Over 1,000 Rural Wyoming Students Earn Virtual High School Diploma

Wyoming eAcademy of Virtual Education Extends Contract for Pearson LearningStudio Platform to Meet Growing Demand

Fort Washakie, WY, January 12, 2011 – Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, and the Wyoming eAcademy of Virtual Education (WeAVE) today announced plans to grow a successful program that has already helped more than 1,000 rural students earn their high school diplomas online. WeAVE uses the Pearson LearningStudio platform and has renewed its contract with Pearson eCollege for another 3 years.

The Wyoming eAcademy of Virtual Education is a non-profit charter school operated by Fort Washakie Charter High School and is the pioneer of virtual education in Wyoming. Located on the Wind River Indian Reservation, WeAVE serves both local Native American high school students and students enrolled in other districts across the state. WeAVE is the state’s only online course provider that allows students to take individual courses through their local school district free of charge.

In addition to Pearson Learning Studio, WeAVE will expand its use of Enterprise Reporting, a tool embedded within the platform to gauge student performance and improve retention by identifying problems early.

“WeAVE was developed to increase student attendance and provide our diverse community with an alternative education system to meet the wide variety of learning styles,” said Gene Meier, Superintendent of Fort Washakie High School and Wyoming eAcademy of Virtual Education. “One of the reasons we chose Pearson LearningStudio is because it is one of the platforms used by the University of Wyoming. With help from Pearson, WeAVE has been able to grow, and our online courses have contributed significantly to a growing number of Wyoming high school students earning their diplomas.”

“The importance of alternative, online learning in K12 is extremely apparent in communities like Fort Washakie, where rural challenges often inhibit students’ mobility,” said Matt Leavy, CEO of Pearson eCollege. “We look forward to continuing our successful partnership with WeAVE to advance our shared mission of increasing access to educational opportunities for more Wyoming students.”

Serving more than 9 million students in K12 through college around the globe, Pearson LearningStudio provides a comprehensive, online learning platform with an assessment and analytics suite that helps to improve student achievement and retention. The technology offers a personalized learning environment built on an advanced, scalable and dependable Software as a Service platform. For more information on Pearson LearningStudio, please visit: http://www.pearsonlearningstudio.com.

About Pearson

Pearson has global-reach and market leading businesses in education, business and consumer publishing (NYSE: PSO).

About Pearson eCollege

Pearson eCollege is a trusted and innovative leader in powering personalized online learning programs and a part of Pearson, the world’s leading learning company (NYSE: PSO). Pearson eCollege’s flagship product – Pearson LearningStudio – represents the next generation in learning management systems and provides a comprehensive, flexible and fully supported cloud computing environment. Pearson eCollege’s SaaS-based education solutions advance, improve and measure the teaching and learning experience in a vast range of educational institutions and programs. For more information on Pearson eCollege, please visit: http://www.pearsonlearningstudio.com.