CHICAGO, IL. MAY 2, 2006 -- In the United States, a shocking one in three children enters kindergarten unprepared to succeed. To raise awareness about the crisis in early education, the non-profit organization Jumpstart today announced Read for the Record, a national campaign to pair adults and children for the largest shared reading experience ever. The announcement was made in conjunction with the International Reading Association’s annual convention in Chicago at a reception hosted by Pearson Education. Supported by Pearson, Starbucks Coffee Company and American Eagle Outfitters, Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Campaign has a goal of setting the world record for the number of children reading the same book with an adult on the same day. The Campaign will take place on Thursday, August 24 and the official campaign book is a limited custom edition of The Little Engine That Could.

Rob Waldron, Chief Executive Officer of Jumpstart, a national non-profit organization focused on literacy and language development in preschool-aged children, said, "A child from a low-income family is read to an average of 25 hours before entering kindergarten, while a child from a middle-income family is read to an average of 1,700 hours. This disparity is at the core of a huge national problem that impacts the future of millions of children, but this problem is entirely solvable. That’s where Jumpstart’s program comes in.” To join us in solving this crisis and help set the world record, Waldron encourages everyone to go to www.readfortherecord.org and register to read with a child on August 24.

Commenting on Jumpstart’s Read for the Record initiative, International Reading Association President Richard Allington said, "We can all relate to the "I Think I Can" message of The Little Engine That Could. Jumpstart’s Read for the Record is a call to action for all of us to focus on the issues around early literacy, and sign on to be part of the solution."

To support Jumpstart's Read for the Record campaign, Penguin, a division of Pearson, is publishing a custom edition of the children’s classic The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, with new art by Loren Long.

The limited custom edition of The Little Engine That Could includes a foreword by NBC’s TODAY Show host Matt Lauer, as well as proven Jumpstart reading techniques for adults to use when reading with a young child. Underwritten by Pearson and its businesses - Pearson Education, Financial Times and the Penguin Group (USA) - 100 percent of the purchase price of the limited custom edition will benefit Jumpstart.

"Pearson has demonstrated a long-time commitment to the work of Jumpstart through our Pearson Teacher Fellowship program to bring qualified teachers to preschools serving low-income communities," said Paul McFall, President of Pearson Scott Foresman elementary education publishers. "Our funding and support for Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Campaign is one additional step to ensure that our country’s at-risk children are not forgotten, and that we provide them the resources they need to be successful when they get to kindergarten.

This national campaign serves to support Jumpstart’s work in low-income communities - work which began in 1993.The Jumpstart program pairs a caring and trained college student with an at-risk preschool child for a year to build critical language, literacy and social skills. This simple, yet powerful model prepares children to learn, encourages families to get involved with their child’s learning and inspires college students to become teachers and child advocates. This year alone, Jumpstart will prepare nearly 10,000 children for kindergarten making it the largest such organization in America.

On August 24, 2006, Jumpstart’s Read for the Record will engage tens of thousands of adults and children all across the country to raise awareness about how to address the completely solvable problem of school readiness, and increase support for Jumpstart’s important work with at-risk children. Go to www.readfortherecord.org to register your participation on August 24 and to find out how you can provide a copy of The Little Engine That Could to an at-risk preschooler.

About Jumpstart

Jumpstart is a national non-profit early education organization that ensures children from low-income communities enter school with a foundation of skills necessary to their future success. Jumpstart directly combats the rising trend of school unpreparedness by pairing at-risk preschoolers and caring adults in year-long, one-to-one mentoring relationships. Headquartered in Boston, Jumpstart currently engages 2,500 adults as mentors to 10,000 children, operates in 60 communities across 22 states, and serves 225 Head Start and other early learning centers across the country. Jumpstart’s national sponsors include American Eagle Outfitters, AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, Pearson, and Starbucks. Jumpstart is a three-time recipient of the Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award (2004, 2005 and 2006) and the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy’s Directors Award. For more information, visit www.jstart.org.

About Pearson

Pearson plc (NYSE: PSO) is an international media company. Its major business operations are: The Financial Times Group, which has an international network of business and financial newspapers and online services that are read by millions of business executives and investors every day; Pearson Education, the world's leading education business, which helps teachers teach and students learn at every stage and in every part of the world; and Penguin Group, which is one of the pre-eminent names in consumer publishing, with an unrivalled range of fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers, and classic titles. For more information, go to www.pearson.com.

Contact
Jami Warner
JWarnerGroup
(916) 761-7699
jami@jwarnergroup.com

Kate Miller
Pearson Education
1-800-745-8489
kate.miller@pearsoned.com