Silver Spring, Md. (Feb. 18, 2010) – Discovery Education, the provider of high-quality, curriculum-based digital media to more than half of all U.S. schools, has expanded its library to more than 150,000 digital assets through new agreements with Scholastic Media, the Smithsonian Institution, and other top content providers and forward-thinking school systems.

Through an expanded partnership with Scholastic Media that provides educators and students with award-winning digital content, Discovery Education streaming users now have access to Maya and Miguel™, a collection of 65 full length videos. WordGirl^®, a collection of 52 full length videos, will soon be added to the service. In addition, more than 100 new full length audio books from Scholastic Audio, a subsidiary of Scholastic Media, will be added to Discovery Education streaming in the coming months to augment elementary language arts lessons. Popular series like Goosebumps^® and Clifford the Big Red Dog^®, and cherished children’s literature classics like The Velveteen Rabbit and The Night Before Christmas will soon be available for instructional use. Discovery Education is already the exclusive educational streaming provider of the award-winning Magic School Bus™ series.

The company’s relationship with the Smithsonian Institution brings exciting new videos to Discovery Education streaming users. Easily integrated into middle and high school social studies curricula, these digital resources bring historical figures to life, providing background and needed context to events in American history.

In addition, video resources highlighting the role of food in history and in students’ daily lives, are now available from Ancient Lights Educational Media in Discovery Education streaming, Discovery Education Science for Elementary and Discovery Education Science for Middle School. Discovery Education will soon offer digital content about postpartum and newborn care in Discovery Education Health through a new partnership with Milner-Fenwick, Inc.

New content has also been added to Discovery Education streaming Canada. Educators and students across Canada can access more than 100 new titles of specific interest to Canadian teachers and students, including the series Canada: The Undiscovered Land and History Lands. These resources are made available through a new partnership with McNabb Connolly. Canadian educators can access information about Discovery Education streaming Canada by visiting www.discoveryeducation.ca.

Discovery Education has also partnered with Infinitec, Inc., to offer educators and administrators access to ten key training resources that address response to intervention, assistive technologies, student behavior, and more. These high-quality professional development videos covering critical instructional issues will soon become available through Discovery Education streaming and Discovery Education streaming Canada.

Also, more than 30 “continuity of learning” activities, created by Milwaukee Public Schools and Oakland Intermediate School District (in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Education), are available to Discovery Education streaming subscribers. These activities allow educators to insert their own curriculum, and direct learning to wherever students happen to be, keeping pupils engaged in the learning process during periods of absence or school closure.

“Across North America, forward-thinking school administrators are replacing traditional textbooks with dynamic, engaging and cost-effective digital content,” said Kelli Campbell, senior vice president of content and product development for Discovery Education. “By sourcing our content from the libraries of top content providers around the world, we are bringing U.S. and Canadian educators the powerful digital resources they need to meet the varied learning styles of today’s students.”

Additionally, in January Discovery Education announced the debut of Discovery Channel’s 11-part epic natural history series, LIFE, on Discovery Education streaming Plus in late March, following the U.S. premiere of the series on television. Full-length episodes, clips and classroom resources aligned to state standards will be available to educators and students the day after each episode premieres on Discovery Channel. Teacher's guides and ancillary materials for three targeted grade bands (3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) will promote critical thinking among students and support educators in taking a cross-curricular instructional approach.

The Discovery Education Curriculum Development team reviews all videos to ensure appropriateness for K-12 classrooms, creates teaching materials to accompany the videos, and segments the programs into 2-3 minute teachable moment clips. To assist in the process and to guarantee impartial review of materials, the Curriculum Development team also works in partnership with external content experts across curriculum areas, including teachers, curriculum supervisors and district-level administrators.

More Information

For more information about Scholastic, please visit their media room at: mediaroom.scholastic.com.

For more information on Discovery Education streaming or any other products and services from Discovery Education, please visit www.discoveryeducation.com or call 800-323-9084.

About Discovery Education

Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISAD, DISBD, DISCK) revolutionized television with the Discovery Channel and is now transforming classrooms through Discovery Education. Powered by the number one non-fiction media company in the world, Discovery Education combines scientifically proven, standards-based digital media and a dynamic user community in order to empower teachers to improve student achievement. Already, more than half of U.S. schools access Discovery Education digital services. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

Contacts

Discovery Communications
Stephen Wakefield
240-662-2893
stephen_wakefield at discovery dot com
www.discoverycommunications.com

C. Blohm & Associates, Inc.
Emily Embury
608-839-9800
emily at cblohm dot com
www.cblohm.com

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