MARYSVILLE, Calif. (March 24, 2009) – Marysville Joint Unified School District has been named a recipient of the 2009 Pride of SRA Academic Recognition Awards for significantly increasing their students’ achievement on California’s Academic Performance Index (API) following implementation of SRA/McGraw-Hill’s reading program. The district will be presented with the award at the Marysville Board meeting held on Tuesday, March 24. District leaders, teachers, and students will be showcased in a documentary-style video during the ceremony, which is available at SRAImagineItCA.com.

Marysville Joint Unified School District implemented SRA’s comprehensive reading and language arts program Open Court Reading in the fall of 1999 in Grades K–5. Before using the program, the district did not have a consistent curriculum, which resulted in teachers bringing different teaching approaches into their classrooms. Grade 3 teacher and ELL facilitator Shelly Stonebarger from Arboga Elementary School said, “If you didn’t know how to teach reading, it was really hard. I found that Open Court Reading really taught me how to teach reading and teach it well. … Once we started to use it, and we saw the benefits of it, it’s just amazing the difference it’s made!”

Lennie Tate, the district’s executive director of educational services, said Open Court Reading enables teachers to share the same academic language by guiding them through teaching the fundamentals of reading in a standards-based format. And, many Marysville teachers said Open Court Reading helped them be better teachers.

“Open Court Reading gives teachers, especially teachers new to K–6 English Language Arts instruction, direction and focus,” she explained. “Having a common academic language enables them to share tips and collaborate on strategies.”

As a result, the district’s achievement on both the API and the California Standards Test (CST) have consistently increased, among all Marysville students and subgroups of students. Beginning in 2002, the API was used to measure student academic achievement. It is a numeric index ranging from a low of 200 to a high of 1000. The state set 800 as the score schools and districts should strive to meet. In 2002, Marysville Joint Unified School District’s API was 618. Last year, it was up to 705. In addition, when Grade 4 scores on CST are compared from 2003 to 2007, some subgroups of students more than doubled their scores.

“Education is the key to their success whatever particular situation they find themselves in today, and it opens the doors of tomorrow. Reading is essential. You have to be able to read to do math. You have to be able to read to do social studies and science. Everything really comes back to: can you read,” said Dr. Gay Todd, superintendent, Marysville Joint Unified School District. “For our students and our teachers, we did the right thing. They love the program. That speaks volumes to me.”

About SRA Reading Programs
Open Court Reading is a leading Pre-K–6 reading and language arts program published by SRA/McGraw-Hill. Developed from 45 years of intense study and field-testing, Open Court Reading incorporates sound teaching practices from scientific research. In the schools and districts where the program has been implemented, not only have students’ reading test scores increased, but teachers and principals also are seeing gains in student achievement overall.

SRA has recently introduced its latest in research-based reading and language arts programs: Imagine It! The California State Board of Education approved SRA/McGraw-Hill’s Imagine It! reading and language arts programs for Grades K–6 for the 2008 Reading/Language Arts–English-Language Development adoption list. For more information, visit SRAImagineItCA.com.

About Marysville Joint Unified School District
Serving more than 9,700 students in Grades K–12, this district’s student population is 43% Caucasian, 33% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 5% Native American, 4% African American, and 5% multicultural. Sixty-two percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and 27% are English Language Learners. For more information, please visit MJUSK.K12.ca.us.

The Pride of SRA Academic Recognition Award
The Pride of SRA Academic Recognition Award is an annual awards program, initiated in 2001, to recognize schools and districts that are models in reading education. Honorees have demonstrated significant improvement and consistently high reading test scores through the implementation of a research-based reading curriculum, such as SRA’s Open Court Reading or Direct Instruction reading programs. The award is presented each spring.

About SRA/McGraw-Hill
SRA/McGraw-Hill is the top provider of specialized research-based educational programs and professional development for the elementary market. Leading programs include SRA Imagine It! reading program, Direct Instruction, SRA Number Worlds, additional core and supplemental programs. SRA is part of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP).  McGraw-Hill Education is a leading global provider of instructional, assessment, and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at MHEducation.com. For more information on SRA/McGraw-Hill’s products, call 1-888-SRA-4543 and visit SRAonline.com.