Baker & Taylor Partners with LightSail to Improve K-12 Literacy Technology

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Baker & Taylor, the premier worldwide distributor of digital and print books and entertainment products, announced today its exclusive partnership with LightSail Education to provide Baker & Taylor's vast portfolio of digital books and robust KnowledgePoint content management solutions to LightSail's groundbreaking K-12 digital literacy platform. 

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The new integrated solution will ensure that LightSail's tablet-based ereading platform offers the widest possible selection of engaging digital books through an integrated delivery and management system, further enhancing its effectiveness as a tool for teachers and administrators to measure individual student progress toward Common Core standards. LightSail's interactive technology embeds assessments into students' reading and provides educators with actionable, real-time data that they can use to monitor and improve student literacy.

LightSail's innovative software has been awarded top honors by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and industry groups such as the Software & Information Industry Association's education division. Building on the award-winning LightSail platform and combining this with the powerful suite of tools Baker & Taylor provides K-12 schools across the country, Baker & Taylor's integrated KnowledgePoint solution allows schools to effectively utilize digital content in a seamless process from content curation and purchasing to management and assessment. 

Baker & Taylor's KnowledgePoint solution brings together the industry's best and most reliable library and education platforms, enabling all the important aspects of education to work together. With an expansive collection of content available, KnowledgePoint is simple to integrate and even easier to use. Through its powerful solutions, it allows schools to have multiple repositories of ebooks to supply to classrooms, libraries and reading rooms simultaneously. And it makes managing content seamless — with intuitive searching, purchasing and allocation systems.

"Working with LightSail to change the way educators effectively utilize a digital library means that teachers will be able to use this dynamic platform to engage all levels of students with a wide range of titles, from classics and best-sellers to important pieces of nonfiction and the latest critically acclaimed works," said George Coe, President and CEO of Baker & Taylor. "Because Baker & Taylor works closely with leading publishers to distribute ebooks, this collaboration with LightSail is a natural extension of our work into a growing and exciting segment of the education market."

"We are truly delighted to be working with Baker & Taylor," said LightSail Education Founder & CEO Gideon Stein. "We share a common vision to provide students with the best, most compelling digital content anywhere, anytime. The combination of LightSail's rigorous Common Core-aligned assessments and interactive ereader with Baker & Taylor's deep relationships with premier publishers breaks down the barriers of access and offers a cost-effective elibrary model that will revolutionize K-12 reading."

About Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor, Inc. is the premier worldwide distributor of books, digital content and entertainment products. The company offers cutting-edge digital media services and innovative technology platforms to thousands of publishers, libraries, schools and retailers worldwide. Baker & Taylor also offers industry‑leading customized library services and retail merchandising solutions. Charlotte, N.C.‑based Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan, Inc., a leading private equity investment firm.

About LightSail Education
LightSail Education was founded in 2012 by a group of entrepreneurs, educators and software engineers to address critical educational challenges with elegant, efficient, and – above all – effective digital solutions. 

SOURCE Baker & Taylor