Houghton Mifflin Co. News Release - September 29, 2005

Great Source Works with Microsoft to Develop Learning Essentials for Microsoft Office, a New Educational Application Designed to Help Students, Teachers Perform Better with Technology

BOSTON — September 29, 2005 — Great Source Education Group^®, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company, announces its collaboration with Microsoft Corporation on Learning Essentials for Microsoft Office.

Developed with Microsoft and other educational publishers, Learning Essentials, which runs atop any version of Office XP or Office 2003, provides students and teachers with a customized Office environment with toolbars, templates and tutorials to help them start and complete assignments more efficiently and intuitively. The educational program was launched this summer at the National Education Computing Conference (NECC).

By combining its research-based writing curriculum, Write Source, with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint^® applications, Great Source developed 15 tutorials and more than 20 templates to provide students in grades 5–12 with convenient, step-by-step writing support and to offer educators a powerful tool for creating effective instructional materials and for assessing writing.

“By combining the proven instruction in the Write Source series of writing products with the powerful features in Microsoft Office’s product suite, we have created a wonderful environment in which to continually support students with their writing and teachers with their writing instruction,” said John Kissell, manager of business development, Great Source Education Group.

Learning Essentials tutorials from Great Source are designed to help students understand the writing process and the major forms of writing (narrative, expository, persuasive response to literature and research report). The templates feature graphic organizers that help students select topics, gather details, perform research, organize and outline their writing projects, and create and publish well-designed documents. The tools help students perform peer-to-peer reviews of other students’ work, revise and edit their writing, and assess their final work.

Teachers can use the Write Source tutorials and templates to provide basic writing instruction, to create meaningful assignments and to assess student work using rubrics based on the six traits of writing.

Schools that subscribe to a Microsoft Academic Volume Licensing program for Microsoft Office are automatically licensed to use Learning Essentials for Microsoft Office at no additional cost. Based on their Academic Volume Licensing agreement, customers can obtain Learning Essentials media as a free download or on CD. (One-time media cost may apply.) For more information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/education/learningessentials.mspx.

About Great Source
Great Source Education Group publishes affordable, curriculum-based supplemental resources for students and teachers in grades pre-K through 12, as well as for parents and homeschoolers. With offerings in the core curriculum areas of reading, language arts, math and science, Great Source also publishes programs designed to meet specific initiatives such as summer school, afterschool, intervention, test prep and ESL. The company’s Web site can be found at www.greatsource.com.

About Houghton Mifflin
Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Company is one of the leading educational publishers in the United States, with over $1 billion in sales. Houghton Mifflin publishes textbooks, instructional technology, assessments and other educational materials for elementary and secondary schools and colleges. The Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers. Additionally, Houghton Mifflin offers computer-administered testing programs and services for the professional and certification markets. With its origins dating back to 1832, Houghton Mifflin combines its tradition of excellence with a commitment to innovation. The Company's Web site can be found at www.hmco.com.

Microsoft and PowerPoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the U.S. and/or other countries.