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Update to Pearson's Online Tool for Building Student Writing
and Reading Comprehension Skills Unveiled

WriteToLearn 4.0 Includes More Than 200 Passages From Scott Foresman "Reading Street," Enhanced Teacher Tools

BOULDER, Colo. - Oct. 10, 2007 - Today Pearson unveiled WriteToLearn™ 4.0, the newest update of its award-winning Web-based learning tool for developing writing and reading comprehension skills. This new release includes more than 200 reading passages from Pearson's popular Scott Foresman Reading Street, a reading program designed to help elementary teachers build readers through motivating and engaging literature, scientifically research-based instruction and reliable teaching tools. Other updates include enhanced teacher tools, such as increased support for managing class and student rosters. All schools and districts with current WriteToLearn subscriptions will receive the update free of charge.

With WriteToLearn, students practice essay writing and summarization skills, and their efforts are measured by Pearson's state-of-the-art Knowledge Analysis Technologies™ (KAT) engine, which automatically evaluates the meaning of text by examining whole passages. The KAT engine is a unique automated assessment technology that evaluates the meaning of text, not just grammatical correctness or spelling. Earlier this year, scores for each of six traits of writing - ideas, organization, conventions, sentence fluency, word choice and voice - were added to WriteToLearn, making it an even more powerful tool for building writing skills.

"Teachers and students are quickly discovering what the research behind the development of WriteToLearn demonstrates. When students practice writing and summarizing online in an engaging environment and receive immediate feedback, they show marked improvement in their writing and reading comprehension skills," said Lynn Streeter, president of the Knowledge Technologies group of Pearson. "With this latest update, we are offering teachers who use WriteToLearn with their students even more ways to use this Web-based learning tool to build literacy skills across the curriculum."

Earlier this year, WriteToLearn received a 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), cited as the best "Curriculum: Reading and Language Instruction Web Site for Grades 6-8," and a 2007 Best Educational Software (BESSIE) Award from California's ComputED Learning Center for best language arts Web site in the "Upper Elementary" category.

More information about WriteToLearn is available at www.WriteToLearn.net.

About Pearson
Pearson is the global leader in educational publishing, assessment, information and services, helping people of all ages to learn at their own pace, in their own way. For students preK-12, Pearson provides effective and innovative curriculum products in all available media, educational assessment and measurement for students and teachers, student information systems, and teacher professional development and certification programs. The company's respected brands include Summary Street, WriteToLearn™, Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, AGS, PowerSchool, SuccessMaker, TeacherVision and many others. Pearson's comprehensive offerings help inform targeted instruction and intervention so that success is within reach of every student. Pearson's other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.

For more information, press only:
Lisa Wolfe, L. Wolfe Communications, 773-325-9935, lwolfe@lwolfe.com