CONTACT:

Sara Sinek
Scholastic Inc.
ssinek@scholastic.com
(212) 343-6899

Mike Barrett
Scholastic Inc.
mbarrett@scholastic.com
(212) 343-6570 

Top Educators Share Summer Reading Strategies at Scholastic Google+ Hangout on April 16th at 8PM ET

NEW YORK – April 7, 2014 – Today, Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL) launched student pre-registration for the 2014 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge exclusively for educators at scholastic.com/summer. Now in its eighth year, this free online reading program motivates children to read all summer long by logging their reading minutes with the goal of setting a new summer reading world record. The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge aims to prevent the “summer slide” – the learning losses that set children back academically when they do not read during the summer months. Beginning today, teachers (K–8th grade) can register their students to participate, track their students’ progress through the educator dashboard, download free contenting including how-to guides, booklists and online resources and be entered to win prizes.

“We know all teachers are committed to ensuring that their students keep their reading skills sharp throughout the summer,” said Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company. “The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge offers a fun and interactive experience designed to motivate kids, engage parents and make summer 2014 a summer of reading.”

Tapping into social media to help teachers collaborate on ways to motivate their students to read all summer long, Scholastic is facilitating a social media discussion where educators will share successful summer reading strategies they use with their students. The live Google+ Hangout, “Summer Reading Roundtable: Stopping the Summer Slide”, on April 16th at 8 pm (ET) will feature a principal, a district leader and a teacher offering advice on how to educate parents on the importance of summer reading, tips to engage the entire school community and other ideas to help students set a new world record for summer reading.

Teachers who pre-register their classes between today and June 30, 2014 are entered for the chance to win a 50- book classroom library. Plus, the first 500 teachers who register will receive 250 Scholastic Reading Club bonus points.

Additional details surrounding the 2014 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge will be announced on May 5th, 2014, when the website officially goes live for children to participate in this year’s program.

For more information about the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, please visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/SummerReadingChallenge.