The History of Learning A-Z
The Learning A-Z family of websites began in 2002 at the hands of two
talented entrepreneurs with years of experience in the education industry,
Robert Holl and Francis Morgan. Holl and Morgan believed every child should have
developmentally appropriate books and activities to learn to read—at school and
at home. The company, with the support of a handful of staff, many still holding
key positions today, started with Learning Page, which provides free printable
activities, and Reading A-Z, a reading resource subscription website. Learning
A-Z, whose parent organization is Voyager Learning Company, now provides a
number of dynamic curriculum delivery websites with hundreds of thousands of
teaching and learning resources for PreK-6 educators and students. A substantial
percentage of classrooms in the United States and worldwide are benefiting from
Learning A-Z’s comprehensive collections of high-quality educational resources
offered at a low cost and available 24/7 via the Internet.
Company Mission/Vision
Learning A-Z is dedicated to putting developmentally appropriate books,
lessons, and other resources into the hands of every educator and child who
needs them. Our goal is to provide educators, schools, and districts with
solutions that help meet the needs of a diverse student population-- easily,
effectively, and affordably.
Current Leadership
Co-founder Robert Holl began his professional career as a classroom teacher.
He has served as Editor-in-Chief for Addison-Wesley and Scott Foresman
publishing companies, and was Vice-President of Product Development for The
Wright Group. He currently holds the organizational position of Senior
Vice-President of Publishing.
Contributors
Learning A-Z resources are developed and produced by a wide range of
individuals with education and classroom experience and are reviewed and tested
by expert teams of outside educators and consultants.
Copyright
Learning A-Z owns the rights to all of the materials on all of the company’s
websites.
The Family of Learning A-Z Subscription Websites
The award-winning Reading A–Z website provides thousands of professionally
developed leveled readers (including English, Spanish, and French versions)
poetry, read-alouds, decodables, and more, with accompanying lessons,
worksheets, assessments, and other teaching and learning materials. The
downloadable and printable materials cover all the key reading skills. In
addition to widespread use in mainstream classrooms, Reading A–Z materials are
benefiting educators and students in special education and special needs,
remedial reading, ESL and ELL, and dual and bilingual language programs.
The online, interactive leveled books and quizzes available at Raz-Kids.com are
ideal for beginning, emerging, and challenged readers (K-6). Students can listen
to or read the books as well as record themselves reading and take online
quizzes to measure comprehension. The website also contains an online management
tool for teachers to build rosters, assign books, and track student reading
activities.
Reading-Tutors is designed for nonprofessionals and paraprofessionals who tutor
children in need of extra reading instruction. The program consists of
downloadable lesson packets containing all the printable resources needed for
hundreds of tutoring sessions tailored to a child’s individual needs.
Vocabulary A-Z allows teachers to generate thousands of custom, printable,
weeklong vocabulary lessons to match the subjects they are teaching and increase
student reading comprehension.
Writing A–Z provides a comprehensive collection of downloadable leveled writing
lessons and materials in five main writing genres: expository, narrative,
persuasive, procedural, and transactional. These resources are organized into
supplementary writing units and individual materials.
Science A–Z is a dynamic website offering a comprehensive collection of downloadable
lessons and materials in four main scientific domains: life, earth, physical and
process science. These resources are organized into units and individual materials
to supplement your current curriculum.
AWARDS
2006 Technology and Learning Award of Excellence
Language Arts
Vocabulary A-Z was deemed among the top innovative products for language arts.
2004 Parents' Choice Recommended Award Winner
Web Site
The Parents' Choice Foundation recognizes the best products for children.
Reading A-Z was honored for being fairly priced; helping children grow; and
providing a fun, safe, and socially sound product. The Parents' Choice
Recommended seal indicates "thorough recommendation for reasons of production,
appeal, and fulfillment of its clear intent."
2003 Global Learning Initiative Award
Innovation in Learning
Bologna Children's Book Fair, Italy, & The Association of Educational Publishers
An international panel of judges singled out Reading A-Z for its quality and
unique approach to learning, saying, "The Web site contains an incredibly
well-thought-out leveled reading program with great versatility in uses,
especially for reading-disadvantaged students." The judges also commended the
low cost of the program.
2002 Technology and Learning Award of Excellence
Language Arts
Reviewers said Reading A-Z is "a resource that puts everything a teacher,
parent, or home-schooler needs to teach reading at the click of a mouse."
March 2003 EducationPlanet
Top Web Site of the Month
Teachers and reviewers cited the program's "quality content and usefulness to
Language Arts educators and students."
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