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| Press
Release
Seven Publishers, Led by Wright Group, Sign on
as Anchor Publishing Partners for mCLASS:Reading™, Wireless Generation's
New Mobile Observational Assessment Tool
Leveled Readers from Wright Group, Capstone Press, Compass Point Books, Newbridge Educational Publishing, Pacific Learning, READING A-Z, And Sundance Publishing Featured on mCLASS:Reading New York - April 30, 2002 - Wireless Generation, a dynamic new company dedicated to producing state-of-the-art handheld technology products for K - 12 education, announces anchor publishing partnerships with Wright Group and six other key educational publishers for mCLASS:Reading, its soon to be released observational assessment tool for early reading. Through these publishing partnerships, teachers will be able to use mCLASS:Reading for on-going classroom-based reading assessments with hundreds of leveled readers. The seven anchor mCLASS:Reading publishers are Wright Group, Capstone Press, Compass Point Books, Newbridge Educational Publishing, Pacific Learning, READING A-Z, and Sundance Publishing. mCLASS:Reading is a unique assessment solution that combines the ease of use of handheld computers with powerful back-end database systems to enable K - 3 teachers to perform reading assessments as an integrated part of their classroom instruction. mCLASS:Reading, which will be previewed at the International Reading Association (IRA) conference in San Francisco April 29 - May 2, is designed to give teachers both the data and the time they need to ensure every student is a successful reader. With mCLASS:Reading, teachers - working with assessment protocols widely used in paper-based formats - will be able to assess student progress quickly and easily in phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, reading fluency, and vocabulary development. The system is particularly helpful to teachers who do oral reading records. A myriad of reports can then be quickly generated to help teachers with their instructional needs and give administrators critical information on student reading progress. "One of Wright Group's goals is to provide educators with the best tools to improve student achievement," said Sari Factor, Wright Group president. "Wireless Generation's open platform enables teachers to choose from the widest variety of books to assess students and to meet individual needs. We are pleased to be a publishing partner for Wireless Generation's innovative mobile assessment tool." The mCLASS:Reading Library database, which comes with the program, will be an especially valuable resource to help teachers select appropriate books for their students based on reading level, interests, language and other criteria. Because these books come from a wide array of publishers, educators will discover hundreds of new leveled readers, which they can buy separately from the publishers. Since most of the top publishers are included, teachers will also discover that they already own a number of books that work with the mCLASS:Reading system. Larry Berger, Wireless Generation CEO said, "I am enormously impressed by the quality of the offerings of our seven initial anchor partners. We take the early adoption of these seven publishers as an endorsement of mCLASS® as an ideal platform for observational assessment." Berger added, "Each publisher brings special perspectives to the task of helping children learn to read. For example, Newbridge is known for its beautifully produced non-fiction books; READING A-Z is unique in its delivery of books via the internet; Compass Point is a household name among librarians; Pacific Learning carries excellent adapted and original books in Spanish; Capstone offers stunning photo-illustrated nonfiction materials that are leveled to meet the needs of all learners, from struggling to fluent readers; Sundance Publishing guided reading and reading support materials are prized by teachers everywhere; and Wright Group has long been one of the leaders in reading, boasting particular success in helping students develop critical thinking skills through reading." About Wright Group Contact: Brian McRae - brian_mcrae@mcgraw-hill.com, www.wrightgroup.com About Capstone About Compass Point Books Contact Patti Hall - p.hall@compasspointbooks.com, www.compasspointbooks.com About Newbridge Educational Publishing The company's well-earned reputation for dynamic, real
world photography is exemplified in its Discovery Links guided reading
programs for the elementary grades, and in its new Go Facts Science
Guided Writing program. About Pacific Learning Contact: Rob Lang - rob.lang@pacificlearning.com, www.pacificlearning.com About READING A-Z Targeting children ages four to eleven, READING A-Z addresses the wide range of reading abilities found at each grade or age group with books written for twenty-seven levels of graduated reading difficulty. Contact: Robert Holl - bob@readinga-z.com, rholl@aol.com, www.readinga-z.com About Sundance Publishing Sundance products feature developmentally-appropriate, cross-curricular classroom activities organized into meaningful teaching and learning programs, plus materials for students and teachers to support the home-school connection. Contact: Katherine Jasmine - kjasmine@sundancepub.com, www.sundancepub.com About Wireless Generation The company's team brings to the task years of experience in teaching, education research, software engineering, and design. Wireless Generation is located at 11 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010. The company can be reached at 212 213-8177 and on the Web at www.wirelessgeneration.com |
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