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Scholastic Corporation

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Scholastic Corporation
Company typePublic company
Nasdaq: SCHL
S&P 600 Component
IndustryChildren's literacy and education
FoundedOctober 22, 1920; 104 years ago (1920-10-22)
Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, US
FounderMaurice Robinson
SuccessorScholastic Inc. (1981–2011)
HeadquartersScholastic Building
557 Broadway, New York City, New York 10012,
United States
Key people
Peter Warwick, CEO, president; Kenneth Cleary, CFO
ProductsBooks, Magazines, pre-K to grade 12 instructional programs, classroom magazines, films, television
RevenueIncrease US$1.6 billion (2016)[1]
Number of employees
8,900 (2019)[2]
DivisionsImprints and corporate divisions
Websitewww.scholastic.com/home Edit this at Wikidata

Scholastic Corporation (/skəlˈæstɪk/) is an American multinational publishing, education and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and online sales and through schools via reading clubs and book fairs. Clifford the Big Red Dog, a character created by Norman Bridwell in 1963, serves as the company's official mascot.[citation needed]

History

Richard Robinson served as the corporation's CEO and president from 1975 until his death in 2021

Scholastic was founded in 1920 by Maurice R. Robinson near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to be a publisher of youth magazines. The first publication was The Western Pennsylvania Scholastic. It covered high school sports and social activities; the four-page magazine debuted on October 22, 1920, and was distributed in 50 high schools.[3] In the 1940s, Scholastic entered the book club business. In the 1960s, international publishing locations were added in England (1964), New Zealand (1964), and Sydney (1968).[4] Also in the 1960s, Scholastic entered the book publishing business. In the 1970s, Scholastic created its TV entertainment division.[3]

From 1975 until his death in 2021, Richard Robinson, who was the son of the corporation's founder, served as CEO and president.[5]

In 2000, Scholastic purchased Grolier for US$400 million.[6][7]

In February 2012, Scholastic bought Weekly Reader Publishing from Reader's Digest Association, and announced in July that year that it planned to discontinue separate issues of Weekly Reader magazines after more than a century of publication, and co-branded the magazines as Scholastic News/Weekly Reader.[8]

Company structure

The business has three segments: Children Book Publishing & Distribution (Trade, Book Clubs and Book Fairs), Education, and International. Scholastic holds the perpetual US publishing rights to the Harry Potter and Hunger Games book series.[9][10] Scholastic is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and print and digital educational materials for pre-K to grade 12.[11] In addition to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, the company is known for its school book clubs and book fairs, classroom magazines such as Scholastic News and Science World, and popular book series: Clifford the Big Red Dog, Goosebumps, The Magic School Bus, Captain Underpants, Animorphs, The Baby-Sitters Club, and I Spy. Scholastic also publishes instructional reading and writing programs, and offers professional learning and consultancy services for school improvement. Clifford the Big Red Dog serves as the official mascot of Scholastic.

Marketing initiatives

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Founded in 1923 by Maurice R. Robinson, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards,[12] administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, is a competition which recognizes talented young artists and writers from across the United States.[13]

Imprints and corporate divisions

"Omnibus Books" redirects here. For the independent publisher, see Omnibus Press.

Trade Publishing Imprints include:

Children's Press

Children's Press (spelled Childrens Press from 1945 to 1996). Founded in 1945[19] and originally headquartered in 1224 West Van Buren Street, Chicago, Illinois until its acquisition by Grolier in 1995, this press published various publications such as the Rookie Read-About series, A True Book series, Young People's series (Young People's Animal Encyclopedia by Maurice Burton, Young People's Science Encyclopedia and Young People's Science Dictionary by the staff of National College of Education (now National Louis University), Young People's Illustrated Encyclopedia, and Young People's World) and also has a secondary imprint, Franklin Watts. It had a slogan "Childrens Books Are Important", with the heptagram with a slogan encircling it served as the press' alternate logo from 1945 to 1970.

In 1995, Children's Press became a division of Grolier, moving from its original headquarters in Chicago to Danbury, Connecticut. It became an imprint of Scholastic Corporation five years later in 2000.

FASTT Math

In 2005, Scholastic developed FASTT Math with Tom Snyder to help students with their proficiency with math skills, specifically being multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction through a series of games and memorization quizzes gauging the student's progress.[20]

Scholastic Entertainment

Scholastic Entertainment (formerly Scholastic Productions and Scholastic Media) is a corporate division[21] led by Deborah Forte since 1995. It covers "all forms of media and consumer products, and is comprised of four main groups – Productions, Marketing & Consumer Products, Interactive, and Audio." Weston Woods is its production studio, acquired in 1996, as was Soup2Nuts from 2001 to 2015 before shutting down.[22] Scholastic has produced audiobooks such as the Caldecott/Newbery Collection;[23] Television adaptations such as Clifford the Big Red Dog, Clifford's Puppy Days, Maya & Miguel, WordGirl, Animorphs, The Magic School Bus, Goosebumps, His Dark Materials and Puppy Place; and feature films such as The Indian in the Cupboard, Tuck Everlasting, Clifford's Really Big Movie, The Golden Compass, Goosebumps, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, Mortal Engines, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and The Bad Guys. It will produce Smile, Voyagers!, My Secret Identity, Charles in Charge, and the upcoming film Trunks.

In 1985, Scholastic Productions teamed up with Karl-Lorimar Home Video, a home video unit of Lorimar Productions, to form the line Scholastic-Lorimar Home Video, whereas Scholastic would produce made-for-video programming, and became a best-selling video line for kids, and the pact expired for two years, whereas Scholastic would team up with leading independent family video distributor and a label of International Video Entertainment, Family Home Entertainment, to distribute made-for-video programming for the next three years.[24]

Book clubs

Scholastic book clubs are offered at schools in many countries. Typically, teachers administer the program to the students in their own classes, but in some cases, the program is administered by a central contact for the entire school. Within Scholastic, Reading Clubs is a separate unit (compared to, e.g., Education). Reading clubs are arranged by age/grade.[25] Book club operators receive "Classroom Funds" redeemable only for Scholastic Corporation products.[26][27][28]

Scholastic Parents Media

Scholastic Parents Media publishes the Scholastic Parent & Child magazine. The group also specializes in online advertising sales and custom programs designed for parents with children aged 0–6.[29]

Criticism

In July 2005, Scholastic determined that certain leases previously accounted for as operating leases should have been accounted for as capital leases. The cumulative effect, if recorded in the current year, would be material. As a result, it decided to restate its financial statements.[30]

A significant number of titles carried are based on media tie-ins and are considered lacking in literary and artistic merit by some critics.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Scholastic Form 10-K Annual Report". Scholastic Corporation. Archived from the original on 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  2. ^ "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  3. ^ a b Neary, Lynn (2013-07-15). "How Scholastic Sells Literacy to Generations Of New Readers". NPR. Archived from the original on 2021-05-04. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  4. ^ "United States Securities and Exchange Commission Form 10-K Annual Report pursuant to section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities exchange Act of 1934, For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2002, Commission File No. 0-19860: Scholastic Corporation". 2002. pp. 6, 7. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  5. ^ "Richard Robinson". Scholastic.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  6. ^ "French Plan to Sell Grolier", Publishers Weekly, 11/29/1999
  7. ^ "Scholastic to Acquire Grolier", press release, Scholastic Inc., 4/13/2000.
  8. ^ "Scholastic to End Independent Publication of Weekly Reader". Bloomberg. 2012-07-23. Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  9. ^ "Scholastic profit rises on Hunger Games sales". Reuters. 2012-07-19. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  10. ^ Reaney, Patricia (2012-07-31). "J.K. Rowling launches Harry Potter book club online". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  11. ^ "Global Publishing Leaders 2018: Scholastic". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
  12. ^ Williams, John (2017-09-20). "Richard Robinson of Scholastic Honored for Lifetime of Work in Children's Publishing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
  13. ^ "Scholastic Art and Writing Awards | Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts". www.promotionandarts.org. Archived from the original on 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  14. ^ "Welcome To Arthur A. Levine Books!". Arthur A. Levine Books!. Archived from the original on 2016-01-09. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
  15. ^ "Potter Publisher Predicted Literary Magic". NPR.org. NPR. Archived from the original on 2018-05-31. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  16. ^ "The Wizardly Editor Who Caught the Golden Snitch". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2018-05-31. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  17. ^ Whyte, Alexandra (March 13, 2019). "Harry Potter publisher leaves Scholastic". Kidscreen. Archived from the original on 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
  18. ^ "Publishing Channel". www.scholastic.com.au. Scholastic Australia. Archived from the original on 25 June 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  19. ^ "Children's Press". Archived from the original on 2017-06-17. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  20. ^ "Tom Snyder Products Announces FASTT Math". PR Newswire. April 7, 2005. ProQuest 451492696. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  21. ^ "Welcome" Archived 2012-04-11 at the Wayback Machine. Scholastic Corporation: About Scholastic. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  22. ^ "Media & The Mission" Archived 2012-04-20 at the Wayback Machine. Scholastic Corporation: About Scholastic. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  23. ^ "Weston Woods Caldecott/Newbery Collection." Archived 2012-04-23 at the Wayback Machine English language teaching: listening practice. Scholastic Corporation. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  24. ^ "Kidvid Forces Link To Attack Market". Variety. 1987-08-19. p. 47.
  25. ^ "Our Businesses". scholastic.com. Archived from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  26. ^ "Terms & Services". scholastic.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-04. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  27. ^ "Raise Classroom Funds". scholastic.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  28. ^ "FAQ: Raising Money for Your Classroom". Scholastic Corporation. Salesforce. Archived from the original on 2021-06-10. Retrieved 10 June 2021. Where can classroom funds be spent? Classroom Funds can be spent online only at Scholastic Book Clubs (clubs.scholastic.com)
  29. ^ "Parent & Child Magazine". Scholastic.com. Archived from the original on 2011-12-14. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  30. ^ Taub, Stephen (Mar 3, 2006). "Restatements Surged in 2005, Says Study". Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved Jun 24, 2020.
  31. ^ Meltz, Barbara F. (2006-11-20). "Taking consumerism out of school book fairs". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
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