Pennsylvania Firm Sees Great Growth in Education Space, Forecasts 30% Revenue Increase

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- American Reading Company is quickly becoming the go-to provider of customized curricular support and residency-model professional development for schools and school districts, and a sought-after partner for school districts, corporations, foundations, and not-for-profit education providers.

Operated by a team of 137 employees, American Reading Company serves 631 school districts in 43 states and the District of Columbia—a reach that extends to 3642 classrooms daily.

The company, founded by CEO Jane Hileman in 1998, a former Philadelphia school teacher, just achieved its best year ever, and this upward trend continues in consecutive monthly growth. Revenues are up from $20 million to $24 million since last year (22% increase), and indicators suggest first-quarter earnings  for its fiscal year which began July 1 will be up 30% over last year.

This rapid, sustained growth reflects a relentless focus on four key areas fundamental to student achievement: ensuring 1) complete transparency in performance management; 2) teachers and school and district leaders fully implement the Common Core State Standards for Reading and Language Arts and prepare students for the high-stakes Next Generation Assessments; 3) parents have the support they need to put home academic routines in place; and 4) students have access to the best fiction and nonfiction books in print and adopt the academic routines of avid readers.

While other companies are scrambling to make the transition to digital models of curriculum delivery, American Reading Company is uniquely positioned to accomplish that goal seamlessly. Convinced that every child is a reader with the right book, the company has compiled a state-of-the-art 90,000-title book database through ongoing partnerships with over 220 school and trade publishers in the English and Spanish markets. Using this database, its classroom library designers have built classroom libraries, thematic text sets, and customized library collections organized by topics, themes, and reading levels, with considerations given to gender, ethnicity, and interest.

American Reading's publishing division, ARC Press, has digitized its beginning reading collection in both English and Spanish, making it the largest collection of its kind in the world. American Reading at Home (www.americanreadingathome.com), the company's direct-to-parents retail source, provides home coaching and beginning reader books and has been endorsed by the Dr. Sears brand. This fall, ARC Press titles will be available on various consumer shopping websites.

American Reading Company boasts partnerships with some of the country's largest and most challenged school districts, including New York City, Trenton, Camden, Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Boston, Chicago, Akron, Denver, and Philadelphia. American Reading Company also supports literacy initiatives driven by corporations and nonprofit entities, including Annie E. Casey, AMETEK, United Way, The Wallace Foundation, UPS, and others.

About American Reading Company

American Reading Company is a premier provider of Common Core State Standards-based school solutions and professional development services. The company's instructional frameworks and individualized support transform school cultures to create sustainable reading achievement through training, management, and monitoring. Visit www.americanreading.com

Contact: Leza Raffel
(215) 884-6499

SOURCE American Reading Company