Houghton Mifflin Co. News Release - July 14, 2005

Great Source Receives Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Educational Publishing from the Association for Educational Publishing

BOSTON — July 14, 2005 — Great Source Education Group^®, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company, has announced that its Reading Advantage program received a 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Educational Publishing from the Association for Educational Publishing, a national, nonprofit association devoted to serving and advancing the supplemental educational publishing industry.

Reading Advantage is a magazine-based secondary reading program for at-risk students. It was considered in the Young Adults Books category of the awards, which recognizes excellence in several educational mediums — periodicals, books, Web sites and software — and judges programs based on the target markets they serve; children, young adult or adult.

“Reading Advantage has received rave reviews from struggling readers and their teachers,” said Susan Rogalski, publisher, Great Source. “It is an honor to also receive recognition from our peers in the educational publishing industry.”

Ideal for at-risk middle and high school students, Reading Advantage is designed to help struggling readers who are performing significantly below grade level become successful, strategic readers. At the heart of the program are colorful magazines based on high-interest themes, written below grade level and offering a variety of mostly nonfiction original selections. Each magazine offers an engaging yet clear and organized design to help students:

• develop essential reading skills, including decoding multiple syllable words, comprehending complex syntax and understanding context clues;
• build reading strategies, background knowledge and vocabulary;
• strengthen reading fluency and gain experience reading a wide range of non-fiction genres including interviews, news articles and photo essays;
• transition from guided reading to independent reading;
• become proficient, confident readers who enjoy reading.

Reading Advantage is a cost-effective and complete solution to help teachers address the need for engaging, effective resources that motivate struggling learners to become competent, independent readers.

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.