CAMDENTON, Mo. June 27, 2006 -- A rural district spanning 400 square miles in the Lake of the Ozarks region of Missouri, Camdenton R-III School District announced today that it has selected Pearson Benchmark and Pearson Inform as assessment solutions for its 4,100 students.

Despite challenging economic conditions - a 43 percent free/reduced lunch population - Camdenton, a district of seven schools, consistently scores above state averages on standardized tests. Roma France, assistant superintendent, foresees greater achievement gains after implementation of Pearson Benchmark, a Web-based district formative assessment benchmarking solution, and Pearson Inform, a Web-based district achievement analysis system.

In the past, Camdenton used spreadsheets, regression models and other time-consuming means to view student achievement data. "We're very excited about Benchmark and Inform because they make data so accessible to the teachers," said France. "Teachers will be able to pull data from their students to see how they're doing, and they'll be able to put in common assessments, as well as create tests. The data will give them the ability to shape instruction, which will help us to meet and exceed state standards."

Pearson Benchmark allows districts to take multiple measures of student performance against standards at any time throughout the school year. With the data collected over time, teachers and administrators can monitor student progress against standards, address deficiencies and recheck mastery. The result is more targeted instruction, shorter assessment cycles, more effective teaching delivery and better student results. It provides a new core set of capabilities, including the ability to quickly and accurately assess student progress against standards, use the data to diagnose student-learning needs and target instruction to address those needs.

Leveraging data from multiple sources such as student information systems, assessment systems and data warehouses, Pearson Inform captures, shares and reports on a variety of student and assessment information, including student demographics, grades, state tests, standardized tests, district tests and more. It further enables districts and schools to perform comparative and longitudinal analysis based on aggregate and disaggregate performance data driven by federal and state requirements.

As decade-long users of SASI, a Pearson School Systems student information system, Camdenton staff members are technology-savvy and look forward to a continued high level of service, said France. Staff members have received training on Pearson Benchmark and Inform, which will be fully implemented at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.

"School districts that see high levels of student achievement recognize the value of having powerful tools for managing student assessment data," said Mary McCaffrey, president, Pearson School Systems. "We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Camdenton R-III School District as they expand their information technology infrastructure to include Pearson Benchmark and Inform."

About Pearson School Systems

Pearson School Systems is advancing student learning through its highly interoperable enterprise solutions for student information management. As the market leader in K-12 technology innovations, Pearson School Systems supports 25 million students with a product lineup that includes PowerSchool Premier, Chancery, Mac School, Win School, Centerpoint, SASI and CIMS. Pearson Inform, the achievement data analysis and decision support tool, and Pearson Benchmark, the district-wide benchmark testing software, round out a solution set designed to provide administrators, teachers, students and parents with comprehensive software options that are easy to use and can be customized to meet a wide range of end-user needs. All Pearson School Systems products are fully supported with training and the finest customer support services in the industry. Pearson School Systems is a business of Pearson Education, the world's leading integrated education company. Pearson Education is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO - News), the international media company. For more information, please visit: www.pearsonschoolsystems.com.