LightSail Partners with Cricket Media to Expand Content Options within Adaptive Literacy Solution

Broad content offering, combined with instructional materials, unmatched in K-12 edtech

NEW YORK, June 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - (CKT:TSX-V) Cricket Media, an education media company and global learning network, has formed a partnership with LightSail, the adaptive K-12 literacy solution, whereby Cricket Media's award-winning content is now available through LightSail. This partnership marks LightSail's expansion into short-form content, in addition to books.

With this partnership, LightSail becomes the only literacy solution to offer articles and books from more than 400 publishers along with instructional materials for every text. Schools can select from more than 80,000 texts for use with LightSail.

More than 100 high-interest Cricket Media articles will be available through LightSail, and each text comes complete with formative assessments, which are embedded into the text. These non-fiction articles, primarily focused on science and social studies, are designed to introduce literacy work into the content areas, while also aiding teachers that wish to monitor student progress during lessons developed around short-form content.

LightSail CEO Gideon Stein said, "Teachers have always used a variety of texts in the classroom – articles, books, and more – yet edtech options have historically forced schools to choose between quality articles or excellent books. Through this partnership with Cricket Media, LightSail is pleased to offer high-quality, engaging articles alongside our unparalleled selection of books, allowing us to serve a broad range of instructional needs."

"Schools increasingly want tools that pair high-quality, standards-aligned content with instructional technology, and our partnership with LightSail brings the best of both worlds into classrooms," said Katya Andresen, CEO at Cricket Media. "As we distribute high-quality, engaging content to a broader audience, LightSail's network of school partners represents an exciting opportunity to reach new learners."

All Cricket Media articles are available to schools through a multi-user license, allowing an entire class or school to read an article simultaneously, for excellent value to districts.

Sample Cricket Media titles now available within LightSail include:

• "Life at Los Alamos" (720L) by Sharon Reith
• "Grappling with Gravity" (930L) by Kathiann Kowalski
• "The Water Walk" (1130L) by Emma Rehard

The Cricket Media content will be made available to LightSail's existing partners, which include New York City Department of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, Chicago Public Schools and Denver Public Schools, as well as new districts.

About LightSail Education
LightSail offers students a truly personalized reading experience while providing educators with the daily data needed to inform instruction and drive deeper learning. LightSail's literacy software embeds instructional tools and assessments into the very best books, delivering instant, actionable data and accelerating student growth. Only LightSail combines content from more than 400 publishers with instructional tools for educators, including formative assessments with every text. With hundreds of schools and hundreds of thousands of students reading on its platform, LightSail is one of the fastest growing literacy solutions in K-12. For more information, visit: www.lightsailed.com or contact Karen Vaites, 646-468-8342, [email protected].

About Cricket Media
Cricket Media (TSXV: CKT) is an education media company that provides award-winning content on a safe and secure learning network for children, families and teachers across the world.  Cricket Media's 11 popular media brands for toddlers to teens include Babybug, Ladybug, Cricket® and Cobblestone®.  The Company's innovative web-based K12 tools for school and home include the ePals community and virtual classroom for global collaboration as well as In2Books®, a Common Core eMentoring program that builds reading, writing and critical thinking skills.  Cricket Media serves approximately one million classrooms and millions of teachers, students and parents in over 200 countries and territories through its platform and NeuPals, its joint venture with China's leading IT services company Neusoft. Cricket Media also licenses its content and platform to top publishing and educational companies worldwide.  For more information, please visit www.Cricketmag.com, www.ePals.com.

SOURCE Cricket Media Inc.