Atwater School Brings Home National Renaissance(R) Conference Award for 'Outstanding Student Achievement' MADISON, Wis., March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognized for their "outstanding student achievement," Peggy Heller Elementary School, located in Atwater, Calif., was awarded the Reading Renaissance Award at the fifth annual National Renaissance Conference. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001108/RENAISSANCELOGO ) The National Renaissance Conference, which was held March 16-19 in Orlando, Fla., is hosted once a year by Renaissance Learning(R), Inc., a leading provider of learning information systems and school improvement programs for pre-K-12 schools. "Peggy Heller Elementary School is proud of the student achievement gains we havemade over the last four years," says Peggy Heller principal Shar Herrera. "In 2000, we were identified as an underachieving school and we volunteered for the II/USP program, but after assessing the needs of the school, Renaissance products were used to help deliver an educational program designed to meet every student's needs." The school has proudly announced that their API has increased 140 points over the last four years and the school has been nominated for California's Distinguished School Award. Due to the use of Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reading(R) and Read Now(R), Peggy Heller's reading and language scores have increased substantially. "Students have acquired a love for reading and are often found walking down the hallways and sitting on the playground reading," says Herrera. "When library circulation goes from 31,000 to over 72,000, you know students are reading." This year's National Renaissance Conference was attended by about 3,000 educators from across the country who gathered to network with others dedicated to educating our nation's children, receive professional development training, hear motivational speakers, and view Renaissance Learning's newest products and services. Taking center stage this year were demonstrations of Renaissance Place(R), the Company's enterprise wide suite of products which offers centralized data and web-based consolidated school- and district-wide reporting, and English in a Flash(TM), a revolutionary new research-based product to help teachers address the needs of ELL (English language learners) and ESL (English as a second language) students. The 2004 National Renaissance Conference was also highlighted by keynote presentations by Wally Amos, founder of Famous Amos cookies and nationally recognized literacy advocate, Mary Pope Osborne, author of the Magic Tree House children's series, and Jim Trelease, motivational speaker and author of The Read-Aloud Handbook. Attendees were treated to the opportunity to meet many famous authors and attend several of the more than 100 professional development workshops offered on a variety of subjects -- from the latest teaching techniques and research to funding opportunities, technology briefings, and detailed discussions of Renaissance products. The 2005 National Renaissance Conference will be held March 3-6 in San Antonio, Texas. Renaissance Learning(R), Inc., is a leading provider of research-based learning information systems software, school improvement programs, teacher trainingand consulting. Adopted by over 65,000 schools, Renaissance information technology products give students and teachers continuous constructive feedback that helps motivate students, dramatically accelerate learning, improve test scores, and help students master all standards, while reducing teacher paperwork. Over 500,000 educators have received Renaissance training. Renaissance Learning has six U.S. locations and subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001108/RENAISSANCELOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Renaissance Learning, Inc. CONTACT: Jonas Berberich of Renaissance Learning, Inc., Toll free office, +1-800-200-4848, Fax, +1-608-664-3888, Web site: http://www.renlearn.com/

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