McGraw-Hill Education Showcases K-12 Literacy Offerings at International Reading Association's 55th Annual Conference

CHICAGO, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- IRA CONFERENCE (BOOTH 2205) -- This week, McGraw-Hill Education is showcasing its full range of literacy programs for elementary and secondary education at the International Reading Association's 55th Annual Conference in Chicago. McGraw-Hill's K-12 literacy programs, the broadest and deepest literacy offerings of any educational publisher – include:

• LEAD21, an all-new transformative literacy program for K-5 classrooms with an innovative approach to differentiated instruction. LEAD21 is the first elementary curricula offered on the Intel-powered convertible classmate PC;
• Treasures, a research-based leading core reading program that now includes support for Response to Intervention, Tiers 1 and 2;
• Imagine It!, a comprehensive reading and language arts curriculum based on 50 years of research and results; and
• Read to Achieve, an intervention program specifically designed to help students reading below grade level.

The International Reading Association (IRA) is the world's leading organization of literacy professionals. This year's conference, themed, "Reading in Many Languages," features a keynote address by former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient Al Gore. McGraw-Hill's presence at the conference includes presentations from many of its notable authors, product demonstrations, as well as giveaways of Flip video cameras.

"McGraw-Hill Education is proud to offer the widest range of literacy programs in the publishing industry that combine the latest digital technologies with years of research and field-testing," said William Oldsey, executive vice president of McGraw-Hill Education. "We provide the solutions educators need to help equip all students with the 21st century skills they need to succeed in school and in today's competitive global economy."

At the conference McGraw-Hill is launching LEAD21, which blends whole group and small group instruction with independent practice featuring a built-in acceleration plan to ensure students read at or near grade level by the end of the program. LEAD21 also features digital offerings that help enhance the program's efficiency as well as student engagement. During the conference, program authors Dr. Michael Ford and Dr. Taffy Raphael will deliver presentations that share insight into the research and principles that shaped LEAD21's unique approach.

LEAD21 will be the first education program offered on the Intel-powered convertible classmate PC, which will be available to students in the fall through a recent collaboration between McGraw-Hill and Intel. The convertible classmate PC, which was designed and built specifically for elementary education, combines the features of a netbook and touchscreen tablet to create a personalized learning experience for students.

McGraw-Hill also will highlight a range of leading literacy programs through presentations and demonstrations:

• Treasures, a research-based, comprehensive reading and language arts program that has been a market leader since its introduction nearly three years ago. Treasures couples high-quality literature with explicit instruction and ample practice, ensuring that students grow as life-long readers and writers. Treasures now includes extensive support for Response to Intervention, Tiers I and II, within one manageable teacher's edition.

• Imagine It!, the product of extensive research and 50 years of proven results, combines explicit, easy-to-follow instruction with frequent progress assessments to meet the needs of every student. Field-testing shows that the explicit, systematic instructional approach used to develop Imagine It! is more effective for at-risk students than other approaches as measured by a variety of tests.

• Read to Achieve, the first reading program to teach portable comprehension strategies that students can carry into their content area classes. This program will be highlighted in a presentation by Almitra Berry, national consultant, McGraw-Hill Education. Read to Achieve is among many McGraw-Hill products specifically designed to promote adolescent literacy by ensuring that struggling students get the instruction they need.

• Jamestown Reading Navigator, a research-based, field-tested program developed specifically to raise reading competencies and test scores of struggling middle school and high school students. Jamestown Reading Navigator is an online and print-based program built upon the latest research in adolescent literacy, Reading Next, by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Conference attendees who visit the McGraw-Hill booth can enter a drawing to win an interactive white board. McGraw-Hill will be posting live tweets from the conference through its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/MHEducation) and will be uploading videos from IRA through its YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/MHEducation).

About McGraw-Hill School Education Group

The McGraw-Hill School Education Group, a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, is a leading innovator in the development of 21st century teaching and learning solutions for K-12 education markets, offering traditional and digital instructional, assessment, and reference content and tools for teachers and students. The School Education Group addresses critical areas in primary and secondary education through Learning Solutions Centers focused on improving student learning outcomes and promoting digital innovation in literacy, STEM, college and career readiness, and intervention and special needs education. All of McGraw-Hill's content for elementary schools and secondary schools is available in digital form. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.

About McGraw-Hill School Education Group Literacy & Humanities Center

Literacy and civic skills develop critical thinking and are the foundation of educational success. The McGraw-Hill Education Literacy & Humanities Center helps students establish these skills as well as expands their knowledge of literature, social studies, and world languages. A variety of proven PreK-12 programs and digital platforms combine to improve students' literacy skills and build a strong foundation for success.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education