Houghton Mifflin Co. News Release - June 27, 2005

Edusoft and Thrinkronize Announce Integrated Intervention Solution for Teachers

Assessment Platform Connected to Standards-Aligned Internet Resources

SAN FRANCISCO — June 27, 2005 — Edusoft^®, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company, and Thinkronize, Inc., creator of the award-winning netTrekker academic search engine, today announced a partnership that will enable teachers to quickly and easily access standards-aligned resources through the Edusoft assessment platform to help them improve student performance.

“The partnership exemplifies our strategy of connecting our assessment, analysis and reporting tools directly to instructional resources,” said Iwan Streichenberger, president of Edusoft. “Having netTrekker available within the Edusoft platform gives teachers access to state specific resources and activities that can be used to target instruction, and conveniently provides assessment and curriculum management with a huge bank of resources in one location.” 

The Edusoft platform provides practical assessment services that make it easy for districts to collect, analyze and act on student performance data to improve instruction. The platform makes administering tests quick, easy and cost-effective; delivers rapid turnaround of results; improves the reliability of assessment programs; connects assessment to instructional decisions; and increases the effectiveness of districts’ instructional investments.

Since its inception, the Edusoft platform has scanned and scored more than 10 million tests in more than 3,500 public schools for almost three million students.

“The netTrekker/Edusoft partnership will provide educators an efficient way to remediate students identified as struggling with specific content material. The goal is to provide relevant material with ease — all aligned with state standards — through the Edusoft delivery platform,” stated Christine Willig, president of Thinkronize.

netTrekker, the trusted search engine for schools, enhances teaching and learning by providing fast and easy access to more than 180,000 high-quality, pre-screened and educationally relevant K–12 online resources. These online resources also align with each state's academic standards and benchmarks and can be used in the classroom to stimulate instruction and learning.

Nearly four million students and a quarter of a million teachers in 47 states are using the netTrekker search engine to enhance learning. netTrekker delivers only the best educational resources from the entire Internet to every desktop, saving valuable time and making searches safe and powerfully productive. netTrekker’s integration into the Edusoft platform will be available in the fourth quarter of 2005.

About Thinkronize
Thinkronize, an Internet developer of award-winning K–12 educational products, was founded by Robert Reinders in July 1999, and grew out of a passion and commitment to enhancing teaching and learning with the Internet and standards-based online resources. The company’s premier product, netTrekker, the trusted search engine for schools, was launched in October 2000. Since netTrekker’s launch, Thinkronize has enjoyed continued growth, success and industry recognition and awards. netTrekker is being adopted by key districts nationwide and is known to be one of the best products in the education industry. For more information, visit www.thinkronize.com or phone 877-517-1125.

About Edusoft
Edusoft offers the only proven standards-based assessment platform to enable public schools immediate access to online student performance results and customized instructional tools based on the automatic scoring of plain paper answer sheets. Edusoft, a division of Houghton Mifflin Assessment Group, is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Additional information on Edusoft and its products can be obtained at 866-4-EDUSOFT (866-433-8763) or www.edusoft.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.