Cambridge, Mass., July 1, 2003 — Educators Publishing Service (EPS) is the exclusive publisher of the S.P.I.R.E.® (Specialized Program Individualizing Reading Excellence) program, the company announced today. “The S.P.I.R.E. program is an ideal strategic acquisition for us,” said EPS President Nick Gaehde. “This highly respected and widely used reading program enriches our early and remedial reading offerings and strengthens our position as a leading provider of K-12 language arts materials that support academic standards and build basic skills.”

S.P.I.R.E. was developed by Sheila Clark-Edmands, M.S.Ed., as an early intervention/prevention program for all children. It is the only comprehensive and systematic multi-sensory reading and language arts program that begins in kindergarten and continues through grade 8. S.P.I.R.E. is used in schools nationwide with children with specific language-based disabilities such as dyslexia, with ESL students, in resource rooms and other specialized settings, and in the general classroom.

With the acquisition, Clark-Edmands joins EPS as Director of Professional Development. “S.P.I.R.E. is a diagnostic teaching method that continually teaches to a student’s strengths, while addressing the student’s weaknesses,” she said. “Over 20 years of application, it has proven highly effective for those students who do not learn by other reading instruction methods.” Based on sound theoretical principles, S.P.I.R.E. is unique in combining a phonetic basis with a copyrighted curriculum scope and sequence that builds reading comprehension, spelling and grammar skills, and higher level thinking skills.

“I feel an extremely beneficial partnership has been formed between S.P.I.R.E. and EPS. EPS is a long-standing educational company that has always been a leader in the field of reading and language arts, and reading research has proven what EPS has championed for years. EPS is in the best position to widely promote S.P.I.R.E. while enabling me to continue to create further components and continue professional development across the United States. I am proud to be part of such an outstanding company,” said Clark-Edmands.

“We are pleased that the addition of S.P.I.R.E. to the EPS offerings will make this remarkable program widely available to schools seeking to increase their students’ reading success,” said Gary Facente, President of EPS parent Delta Education, LLC.

EPS (www.epsbooks.com), a division of Delta Education, LLC, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., is a publisher of a wide variety of reading and language arts materials for grades K-12, including Explode The Code, Primary Phonics, Wordly Wise 3000, Touchphonics, and now S.P.I.R.E.

Delta Education, LLC (www.delta-education.com), a New Hampshire-based corporation, has been serving educators for more than 25 years by providing the best in K-12 hands-on science and math materials. The company produces a diverse range of products, including FOSS® (Full Option Science System®), Delta Science Modules™ (DSM II), and the Math in a Nutshell® and Science in a Nutshell® series. Other divisions of Delta include CPO Science (www.cposcience.com), the Peabody, Mass.-based publisher of science learning systems for secondary schools.

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