April 28, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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IN2BOOKS ANNOUNCES FULLY DIGITAL VERSION, NATIONAL EXPANSION TO REACH MORE CHILDREN

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In2Books, a program that has helped more than 16,000 students strengthen their reading, writing, and thinking skills, announced its plans to become fully digital by the end of the year. After five years of unprecedented growth and demonstrated success enhancing students' literacy skills in Washington, D.C., becoming all-digital will enable In2Books to expand its program nationally in a rapid, cost-effective manner.

When fully digital, students and their adult pen pals will be able to create and exchange their letters online. Planned features will also include online tutorials for students and pen pals, professional development for teachers, additional resources for families, and increased 24/7 support for teachers, students, families, and pen pals.

"By going digital, In2Books will seamlessly integrate digital literacy with traditional literacy, giving students instruction and practice in developing the skills they need to maximize their potential and compete in the workforce of tomorrow," said Nina Zolt, founder of In2Books. "Students will learn online communication, word processing, multimedia usage, and research in the context of reading, discussing, and writing about books. Perhaps most importantly," said Zolt, "moving student participation online will bring In2Books closer to its mission—providing all children with the books and literacy instruction they need to succeed."

"We are grateful for the hard work and support In2Books has provided our students and teachers over the past six years," said D.C. Superintendent Clifford Janey. "We are proud of the resulting increase in students' reading achievement."

"In addition to reading, writing, and thinking," Janey added, "it is important that our students also be digitally literate. We welcome this upgrade and look forward to being a flagship site for the all-digital In2Books program in the '06-'07 school year."

About In2Books
In2Books-a collaborative, communitywide effort involving students, teachers, families, principals, and business and civic leaders-has been in operation in D.C. public schools since 1998. It fosters reading, writing, and thinking skills through a unique program that involves students and adult pen pals. Independent research has shown that participating students significantly outperform other students on the SAT-9 reading achievement test.

Throughout the school year, In2Books students receive five books from different genres to keep. The books are diverse, demonstrate successful problem solving, and align with national subject matter requirements. The In2Books students are matched with adult pen pals who read the same books and write letters to their students via the Internet.

The teachers implementing the In2Books program participate in six, three-hour professional development seminars throughout the school year. Each seminar focuses on three strands: fostering explicit instruction of research-proven strategies about reading, discussing, and writing; genre study; and analysis of student letters using a research-based rubric.

Since 1999, In2Books has served roughly 16,000 students, provided around 1,000 teachers with 20 hours of in-class professional development in literacy each year, coordinated the efforts of 7,000 volunteer pen pals, distributed 140,000 books and facilitated the exchange of 160,000 letters between students and their pen pals. The program has been centered in Washington, D.C., with pilot projects in Chicago and Loudoun County, Virginia.

For more information about In2Books, please visit www.In2Books.org.