Rand McNally Partners with Leading Civics Organizations

SKOKIE, Ill., Sept. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Rand McNally is partnering with leading civics educators such as Sandra Day O'Connor's iCivics.org, iSidewith.com and National Mock Election to provide innovative election education programs for students. Rand McNally's "Play the Election", launched in August, is a free collaborative, online tool that teaches 7-12 students about the 2012 Presidential Election and election process through games, resources and competition.

The following organizations have endorsed and are promoting Rand McNally's recently launched "Play the Election":

iCivics.org has endorsed "Play the Election", and has linked to the game from its Election Site. Formed two years ago by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to reverse Americans' declining civics knowledge and participation, iCivics.org prepares young Americans to become knowledgeable, engaged 21^st century citizens by creating free and innovative education materials.

"Play the Election provides both historic and current information to help educate and engage students in understanding the unique Presidential electoral process in the United States," says Jeff Curley, Deputy Director of iCivics.org. "This interactive learning game will enable students to challenge themselves and other students to gain a deeper understanding of a very complicated process."

iSidewith.com is providing an additional game, "What Candidate Do You Side With?" as a resource on the Play the Election site. iSideWith, utilized by more than 3 million people, was designed to help educate users by providing an accurate and updated breakdown of how they align with the candidates on a variety of issues. 

The My Voice National Student Mock Election has endorsed "Play the Election" and Rand McNally will become a curriculum sponsor, providing direct access to "Play the Election" from the National Mock Election website. The My Voice National Student Mock Election, supported by the Pearson Foundation, aims to help teachers motivate, engage and reward students through hands-on, interactive experiences that involve students in their own learning.

"Students are a vital part of our electoral process, and we want them to learn about the importance of their vote.  Play the Election is a great tool to help children understand the process, and what impacts the outcome," says Adam Ray of the My Voice National Student Mock Election.  "The additional teacher resources make it easy for teachers to integrate the program into their curriculum plan."

Rand McNally has established several other marketing partnerships with student-facing organizations, such as Channel One News and Rock the Vote.

Channel One News, the leading television news network for teens nationwide, has included a link to the game in their OneVote election center.   Rock the Vote, the organization founded more than 20 years ago to encourage young people to vote and be heard, will include "Play the Election" in its teacher resources as part of the organization's Democracy Day.

"The endorsements and marketing partnerships from premier organizations in the educational and election arena are testament to the unique and powerful use of technology provided by Rand McNally's "Play the Election" digital learning game, and its ability to engage kids in the election process," said Dave Muscatel, CEO of Rand McNally.

And, as America prepares to elect its President, Rand McNally and USA TODAY Education invite students in the 7-12^th grades to tell our President what's on their minds via Rand McNally's "Dear Mr. President" essay contest, running from August 15 through November 27, 2012.

"Play the Election" Digital Learning Game
"Play the Election" is an engaging community driven experience that helps students learn about the election process through a series of interactive games and competition. Students predict the election winners for each state on an interactive election map, and compare their predictions to their class and the country to see where they rank. The program also includes eleven digital mini-games that delve deeper into influential and battleground states, like Ohio and Florida. 

An accompanying online teacher resource center includes lesson plans based on the Common Core Standards making it easy to integrate the games and activities into the classroom.

"Play the Election" and more detailed information and complete contest rules for "Dear Mr. President" are available at www.randmcnally.com/dearmrpresident.

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