FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kim Goodman
kgoodman@tomsnyder.com
(617) 926-6000, Ext. 276

Watertown, MA June 24, 2005- Tom Snyder Productions' groundbreaking reading comprehension software program, Thinking Reader®, has won the 2005 Codie Award for Best Education Instructional Solution for Special Needs Students from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA).

Thinking Reader enables struggling readers and special needs students in grades 5-8 to read the same high-quality, unabridged novels as their peers – books such as Tuck Everlasting and The Giver. The research-validated software program offers a powerful and exclusive combination of high-interest, authentic literature; instruction and practice in using key reading strategies; and immediate, corrective feedback through a robust management system.

Developed in partnership with the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), a research and development organization nationally known for its commitment to high-quality educational technology, Thinking Reader turns struggling readers into strategic readers. Through prompts, hints, model responses, and immediate feedback, each student receives the differentiated instruction and individualized support needed for success. Results from a two-year validation study indicate students using Thinking Reader demonstrated significantly greater gains in comprehension on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Achievement Test than did their peers in a traditional strategy instruction condition.

Recently upgraded, this new version now runs on Mac OS X; has human-voice audio for all vocabulary (English & Spanish), quizzes, and model responses; and has improved performance on wireless networks.

“Thinking Reader enables teachers to include all students, both on-level and struggling readers, in grade-level literature discussions,” said Rick Abrams, General Manager of Tom Snyder Productions. “It's especially gratifying to be recognized in a special education category because, although Thinking Reader improves reading comprehension for on-level students, we built the program to be accessible to all students, from on-level to struggling readers and students with special needs.”

Each year SIIA honors leaders in the software and information industry for excellence in software and information products and services. This year, over 800 companies submitted more than 1,000 nominations – a record breaker for the Codie awards. Judging was completed by a broad panel consisting of representatives from the industry trade press, mainstream technology writers, industry experts and analysts, and SIIA members.

"This 20th Annual Codie Awards continues our tradition of celebrating the best in the software and information industry." said Ken Wasch, President of SIIA, "Being a finalist among so many nominees is a solid achievement and winning a Codie Award is a high honor - I congratulate Tom Snyder Productions."

About Tom Snyder Productions
Tom Snyder Productions, Inc., a Scholastic company, is a leading developer and publisher of educational software for K-12 classrooms. The company was founded over 20 years ago by Tom Snyder, a former science and music teacher who pioneered the utilization of technology in the classroom to improve student understanding and performance. Today, Tom Snyder Productions has received over 150 prestigious industry awards and is used in over 400,000 classrooms. The company's software titles cover each curriculum area, and its professional development team has helped more than 175,000 teachers learn to integrate technology effectively into their curricula. (www.tomsnyder.com)

For further information please visit www.tomsnyder.com/thinkingreader or contact Kim Goodman at (617) 926-6000, Ext. 276.