SCANTRON CORPORATION EXPANDS OFFERING OF EDUCATION SOLUTIONS UNDER GLOBALSCHOLAR BRAND

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. (ASCD 2011 Conference)—March 25, 2011—Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., parent of Scantron Corporation, has announced that the education offerings of Scantron, GlobalScholar and Spectrum K12 will begin to go to market under the “GlobalScholar” brand and be led by Kal Raman, chief executive officer of GlobalScholar. Scantron Corporation acquired GlobalScholar in January 2011 and Spectrum K12 in July 2010.

“Outstanding education products and services from Scantron, GlobalScholar and Spectrum K12 are currently helping educators drive student achievement across a broad spectrum of needs,” said Chuck Dawson, president and chief executive officer of Harland Clarke Holdings Corp. “By bringing together these complementary solutions into a cohesive offering, we are providing administrators, teachers, parents, and students with advanced tools to enhance learning.”

All of the online education solutions previously offered by Scantron, Spectrum K12 and GlobalScholar — including Engage, Achievement Series®, Performance Series®, EXCEED®, as well as Scantron scanners and forms — will continue to be offered and marketed by their current product names, but under the unified GlobalScholar brand. Educators will be able to continue purchasing educational products from each product line as independent solutions. Those seeking a more comprehensive approach to instruction management can purchase a suite that combines GlobalScholar’s innovative instructional management platform, Pinnacle, with Scantron’s testing and assessment solutions and Spectrum K12’s response to intervention (RTI), student achievement and special education software solutions. The resulting comprehensive educational software suite will intuitively engage educators, parents and students to work smarter and learn more, both in and out of the classroom.

“We are committed to giving educators the tools and choices to work smarter and continue to lead the revolution in learning,” said Kal Raman, who founded GlobalScholar in 2004 and quickly established the company as a leader in education technology. “With our expanded portfolio of education solutions, we are aligned in delivering the level of innovation and responsiveness required by today’s forward-thinking school districts. We are offering a first class, and the first, true end-to-end platform.”

The first phase of integration will provide schools that use the Pinnacle Suite and Achievement Series, Performance Series or EXCEED RTI (Response to Intervention), with consolidated access to all four products from the Pinnacle portal. This access will be offered as an optional upgrade to school districts.

“There is a growing sense of urgency to provide solutions that will help bring a new level of excellence to education systems. The combined solutions that will be offered under the GlobalScholar brand will provide powerful tools for teachers, administrators and parents, in schools and districts of any size, as they work to improve the achievement levels for all students,” said Bill Hansen, chairman of Scantron and former United States Deputy Secretary of Education. 

To learn more about the expanded GlobalScholar brand and the education industry’s most comprehensive solutions for improving student performance, visit Booths 1701 and 1628 at the ASCD (Association of Supervision, Curriculum and Development), March 26-28 in San Francisco at the Moscone Center.

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About GlobalScholar
GlobalScholar (www.globalscholar.com) is comprised of the education solution offerings of Scantron, GlobalScholar and Spectrum K12. Solutions from GlobalScholar empower educators, parents and students throughout the entire learning lifecycle, helping schools achieve educational excellence. The brand’s offerings provide educators with data and insights needed to advance teacher effectiveness and student performance. GlobalScholar also supports parents and students directly with online services that include tutoring and homework help for students, as well as school matching services/online school finders to help parents find the right school for their child. The brand serves 80 of the largest 100 school districts in the United States, as well as 70 countries and 15 Ministries of Education throughout the world. It partners with some of the most progressive and innovative school systems in America, including recipients of funding from the Race to the Top initiative and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Scantron Corporation is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., which also owns Harland Clarke Corp. and Harland Financial Solutions, Inc.