Kaplan Acquires SpellRead  

Education firm buys reading program with record of success in helping struggling students, including English-language and special ed learners

New York, NY, June 6, 2006 – Kaplan, Inc., the international education firm, announced today that it has acquired SpellRead, originator of SpellRead Phonological Auditory Training, a reading intervention program for struggling students that has been praised by reading experts and successfully implemented in school districts in Florida, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.  The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

Stuart Udell, President of Kaplan K12 Learning Services, Kaplan’s school services division, said, “SpellRead has created an innovative method for helping struggling students master the critical skills of reading.  SpellRead’s program is a great fit with Kaplan’s wide range of curricular and instructional programs that help school districts meet the challenges of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.” 

Kay MacPhee, Founder and Director of Program Development of SpellRead, said “SpellRead has reflected my personal mission to prove that all students can become efficient readers.  Kaplan has a shared vision for the future of the program, and being part of Kaplan will enable us to bring the benefits of SpellRead to many more young people.” 

The SpellRead program helps students to recognize and manipulate sounds in the English language, then to transfer those skills to reading text and eventually to writing.  It is generally administered in schools in grades two through high school during a daily one-hour pull-out program led by a specially trained teacher.  

According to a review from the Florida Center for Reading Research, “The SpellRead P.A.T. program, when implemented properly, can produce significant and substantial effects on reading skill for children ranging in age from grade one through grade six.  Results from several clinical samples support the finding that the SpellRead program can provide instruction that is sufficiently powerful to normalize most of the reading skills of struggling readers older than 12 years of age.” (FCRR report on SpellRead P.A.T., November 2003) 

SpellRead is currently being used in schools in Florida, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  The firm was founded in 1994, and has offices in Maryland and Prince Edward Island, Canada, along with licensed operations in Maryland, Florida, and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Canada. For more information about SpellRead, please visit www.SpellRead.com.

Kaplan K12 Learning Services provides a range of curriculum and professional development services to school districts across the country, including New York City; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Los Angeles; Clayton County, Georgia; Pinellas and Polk Counties, Florida; and elsewhere.

About Kaplan
Kaplan, based in New York, provides higher education, professional training, test preparation, K12 learning programs and publishing services in the United States and around the world, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Israel, Singapore and Hong Kong. Kaplan, which had 2005 revenue of more than $1.4 billion, is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).  For more information about Kaplan, please visit www.kaplan.com.

Press contact:
Carina Wong
Communications Director
Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, Kaplan K12
212-453-7571
carina.wong@kaplan.com

Michele Snipe
PR Manager
Kaplan, Inc.
212-492-5941
michele.snipe@kaplan.com

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