Directory:Learning A-Z
Learning A-Z
Company
Learning A-Z , based in Tucson, Arizona, is an educational resource company and business unit of Cambium Learning Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABCD), headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Learning A-Z specializes in websites that deliver affordable, easy-to-access educational resources that consist of thousands of research-based teaching and learning materials. The company’s teacher resources target students from preschool and kindergarten to grade six, and are also used with struggling middle school and high school students. The mission of Learning A-Z is to provide quality, research-based resources for differentiated classroom instruction and independent practice for students during and after school.
The first Web site was launched in 2002 to provide teachers with a vast collection of differentiated reading resources designed to meet the unique needs of all students. LearningA-Z.com resources are currently used by teachers in nearly half of the school districts in the U.S. and Canada and 155+ countries worldwide. Serving a wide range of classroom needs, including ELL/ESL, Response to Intervention, Special Education and general classroom instruction, LearningA-Z.com is the gateway to six integrated websites, including ReadingA-Z.com, Raz-Kids.com, VocabularyA-Z.com, WritingA-Z.com, ScienceA-Z.com and Reading-Tutors.com. These websites offer thousands of printable and projectable leveled book titles, many of which are available as interactive eBooks with quizzes. Other downloadable and projectable resources include online supplemental reading, writing, vocabulary lesson plans, printable worksheets and activities, a variety of online and printable assessment tools, printable flashcards, games and much more.
History
The Learning A-Z family of websites were started in 2002 by former educators and educational publishers Bob Holl and Francis Morgan. Holl and Morgan began the sites with the mission that every child should have developmentally appropriate books and activities, at school and at home. The company initially began with LearningPage.com, which provides free printable activities, and ReadingA-Z.com, a reading resource subscription website. In addition to free sites like LearningPage.com, SitesForTeachers.com and SitesForParents.com, there are six subscription Web sites now under the Learning A-Z umbrella offering various classroom resources. They are ReadingA-Z.com, Raz-Kids.com, VocabularyA-Z.com, WritingA-Z.com, ScienceA-Z.com and Reading-Tutors.com, all of which deliver research-based resources for both teachers and students. In 2010, Learning A-Z started a corporate partnership with WeAreTeachers.com, a networking Web site created to recognize and reward innovative teaching ideas. Learning A-Z sponsors cash grants for teachers with innovative learning ideas.
Learning A-Z launched a new and improved version of the company Web site in October 2010. Filled with helpful product information, videos, ways to connect and share via social media and news and information, including the huge repository of teacher resources like printable worksheets, lesson plans and other educational activities for Pre K-6 students, the new site is a fresh expression of Learning A-Z's powerful brand story. Learning A-Z has a strong social media presence and can be found on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Founders & Executive Staff
Bob Holl, Co-founder and VP/Publisher
Bob, the innovative leader of Learning A-Z, brings his passion for the learning process to the thousands of high-quality resources he’s developed and authored during his 40+ year career in education. Before co-founding Learning A–Z, Bob held positions as VP of Development for the Wright Group, VP and Editor-in-Chief of both Scott Foresman Publishing and Addison-Wesley Publishing, and Executive Vice President of Videodiscovery, Inc. Bob has served as an educational publishing marketing manager and a sales representative, too. Before entering publishing, he was a classroom teacher gaining experience in teaching elementary, middle school, and high school students. He graduated from Bowling Green University in Ohio, with B.S. and M. Ed. degrees. During his publishing career, Bob has authored more than 200 fiction and nonfiction children’s books, and more than 1,000 other educational resources. Bob writes a monthly blog discussing education challenges and important news and ideas.
Katherine Burdick, Director of Product Development
Katherine joined Learning A-Z in 2004after creating reading, science and social studies content for Pearson, Scholastic, and other educational publishers. In addition, she has been both a teacher and a school administrator. Katherine merges these experiences to bring quality, depth and practicality to all Learning A-Z content.
Gawain Douglas, Design & Production Manager
Gawain joined the company in 2009 after a 20-year career as a designer, art director and senior editor in the newspaper industry. He’s taught design at the University of Arizona School of Journalism for 10 years and his wife — a preschool director — and three kids help with usability testing.
Paul Fonte, Director of Engineering
Paul is responsible for construction and maintenance of all internal and external software systems. This includes everything the teachers, students, and administrators use from their schools and homes as well as everything that the Learning A-Z editorial, sales, marketing, and customer service teams create. Paul has 20+ years of professional experience developing and delivering software at all levels, the last 15 of which have come on the web.
John Jorgenson, Director of Marketing
Joining Learning A-Z as Director of Marketing in 2009, John’s role is to engage people in the Learning A-Z story. A longtime editor and marketing strategist for K-12 publishing at Cengage Learning’s Gale, John most recently spent time leading the marketing and communications team at Boston-based Earthwatch Institute, the world’s largest environmental volunteer nonprofit organization.
Paul Littlewood, VP of Sales
A seasoned educational professional, including successful stints with ProQuest, Apex Learning, and others, Paul is dedicated to establishing strong, long-standing relationships with Learning A-Z’s partner schools and districts. This emphasis is carried throughout his team, which includes customer service, training, and professional development.
Susan Racette-Boulden, Director of Professional Development and Training
As a former classroom teacher, reading specialist/coach, and campus administrator, Susan has unique insight into the challenges and responsibilities facing educators today. She has presented on literacy topics at regional and national educational conferences and was a former board member of the AZ State Reading Association. As Director of Professional Development, she strives to create opportunities for educators to discover exciting and new ways Learning A-Z resources can benefit today’s students.
Sara Romero, Customer Service Manager
As one of the founding employees of Learning A-Z, Sara brings a deep understanding of the roots and mission of Learning A-Z to everything she does. Her service philosophy is that every customer and co-worker should be treated like family.
Products
Learning A-Z’s websites deliver printable worksheets, projectable activities, and interactive online classroom resources designed to meet the unique needs of every Pre K-6 student. These teacher resources integrate seamlessly with any school curriculum to help teachers differentiate their instruction. Web-based activation is instant and a variety of teacher training provides ongoing support. The reading websites are designed to improve reading comprehension. They include ReadingA-Z.com, Raz-Kids.com, VocabularyA-Z.com and Reading-Tutors.com. The Writing website,WritingA-Z.com, delivers the writing worksheets and activities needed to teach writing in the K-6 classroom. The Science website, ScienceA-Z.com , provides leveled teacher resources, including science worksheets, to ensure every student can cultivate their understanding of key elementary science concepts.
Parent Company
Cambium Learning Group, Inc. provides research-based education solutions for students. Its Voyager segment provides various reading programs. This segment’s reading programs include a reading intervention system; a literacy program for students; an intervention program to accelerate reading for struggling readers in middle and high school; a research-based and data-driven reading curriculum; a reading curriculum for grades K-3; an interactive Web-based program; a summer reading intervention program; a targeted reading intervention solution in Spanish; and a multilingual early childhood program. The company’s Sopris segment offers products focusing on specific skill deficits. Its programs include Step Up to Writing that addresses students who score at or below the basic skill level in writing; Rewards, a reading intervention program; DIBELS/IDEL, a literary screening and progress monitoring tool; LETRS, a professional development program for educators; The Six Minute Solution for grades K-12 students to enhance reading fluency; and Algebra Ready, which teaches students fundamental mathematics. The company’s Cambium Learning Technologies segment provides technology solutions for students. It offers a group of education related Web sites, which provide online supplemental reading, writing, vocabulary lessons, and other resources for students and teachers; ExploreLearning, a subscription-based online library of interactive simulations in math and science; and Kurzweil Educational Systems, a program for students primarily with ADHD, dyslexia, and visual impairments. This segment also offers IntelliTools hardware products for students with physical, visual, and cognitive disabilities, as well as offers software products that help in reading and math. Cambium Learning Group was formerly known as Cambium Learning, Inc. and changed its name to Cambium Learning Group, Inc. in December 2009. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Dallas, Texas.
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