SACRAMENTO, CA. November 10, 2005 --The California State Board of Education has unanimously approved Pearson Prentice Hall’s standards-based three-level series--Ancient Civilizations, Medieval and Early Modern Times, and America: History of Our Nation as part of the California 2005 History-Social Science Adoption.

Written especially for California, this exciting new series presents history as a well-told story using a rich narrative that captures the imagination of the reader. The program combines motivating student print and technology tools with innovative teacher technology that makes it easy to plan, teach, monitor, and assess student progress.

Unique to the series is the research-based approach that integrates history-social science content with explicit reading instruction. With the collaboration of Dr. Kate Kinsella and Dr. Kevin Feldman, California-based experts on reading, the series provides unparalleled support to help students read and comprehend the informational text found in history-social science materials. According to Dr. Kinsella, "If you teach your students how to read their social studies textbooks, you give them the tools to become life-long learners of history."

The program provides universal access to all students in California. The differentiated resources are leveled to meet the needs of less-proficient readers, English-language learners, students with special needs, advanced readers, as well as students who are gifted and talented.

The print and technology components enable all children to understand the concepts, vocabulary, organizational patterns, and sentence structures that make reading history a challenge for many learners.

" We want to thank all of those involved in this important process who worked so hard to review all of the programs submitted," said Rick Culp, President of Pearson Prentice Hall "We look forward to sharing this innovative new program with students, teachers and parents throughout California," he added.

Meeting the Needs of All Students in California

The California-specific program connects students to content and skills outlined in the California Standards through a variety of unique features:

• College is an important investment for students and we want to do whatever we can to help make the experience as positive and successful as possible," said Sandi Kirshner, Chief Marketing Officer of Pearson’s Higher Education, International and Professional Publishing Group.
• The series is organized around a Standards Road Map that allows for manageable pacing while covering all the Standards in one year.
• Each textbook is carefully crafted to be a book students can read. The explicit instruction of history reading skill and academic vocabulary prepares students to comprehend the information text that is core to any history-social science textbook.
• The print and technology components connect students to history through a variety of learning tools including hands-on projects, Internet activities, CD-ROM-based review tools, and online and CD-ROM Interactive Textbooks.
• The program provides ongoing review for the Grade 8 History-Social Science test. Each level provides for ongoing embedded review of content previously taught.

About Pearson Prentice Hall
Pearson Prentice Hall is the nation's leading educational secondary publisher of scientifically researched and standards-based instruction materials for today's 6 - 12th grade classrooms. Our mission is to create exceptional educational tools that ensure student and teacher success in language arts, mathematics, modern & classical languages, science, social studies, career & technology, and advanced placement, electives, and honors.

Pearson Prentice Hall is a division of Pearson Education (NYSE: PSO), the global leader in integrated education publishing. With such renowned brands as Pearson Prentice Hall, Pearson Longman, Pearson Scott Foresman, Pearson Addison Wesley, Pearson NCS, and many others, Pearson Education provides quality content, assessment tools, and educational services in all available media, spanning the learning curve from birth through college and beyond.

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