Benchmark Education Company Receives Multiple “Excellence in Equity” Honors

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, Dec. 15, 2023— Leading educational publisher Benchmark Education Company (BEC) is pleased to announce that three of its literacy solutions were winners in the second annual Excellence in Equity Awards, presented by the American Consortium for Equity in Education.

The awards, announced on December 14, went to:

• Benchmark Advance — Best Literary Solution
• Represent — Best Diversity and Inclusion Solution
• Express! Asset-Based Access to English — Best Support for English Learners/ELLs

Additionally, the PD Essentials book, Conscious Classrooms: Using Diverse Texts for Inclusion, Equity, and Justice, by Allison Briceño, Ed.D. and Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica, Ph.D., was a finalist in the category of Best Book for Educators.

“We are thrilled to receive these honors,” BEC founder and CEO Tom Reycraft said. “Our commitment is to helping students achieve reading proficiency, and it has always been our goal to provide content that enables all students to see themselves and their backgrounds, empowering them to succeed in school and beyond.”

Benchmark Advance, a core language arts program for Grades K-5, aligns with state standards and Science of Reading research. Its knowledge-based framework provides a cohesive structure for the development of literacy skills and content understanding, with texts that incorporate a wide range of student identities, languages, backgrounds, and abilities.

Represent is a collection of 200-plus fiction and nonfiction authentic texts for Grades K to 6, created by diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators. The texts feature underrepresented groups and promote multiple perspectives, critical thinking, and knowledge building.

Express! Asset-Based Access to English is a comprehensive program for grades K-6 with explicit, systematic, knowledge-building instruction that incorporates English language development and provides a crucial support system for Multilingual Learners.

Conscious Classrooms offers advice and strategies to educators on how to choose texts for students that feature diverse stories and are authentic, respectful, and free of stereotypes.

The Excellence in Equity Awards program recognizes companies, nonprofits, leaders, and educators whose work contributes to the goal of ensuring access and equity for every learner. The 2023 awards had an initial pool of 124 nominations, with 88 finalists across 25 unique award categories.

“In year two of our awards program, it’s been amazing to see the significant growth in both the number and quality of nominees,” Ross Romano, the awards program chair, said. “The daily efforts of companies such as our winners—and truly, all nominees — and their collaboration with schools make it possible for educators and students to achieve excellent outcomes.”

ABOUT BENCHMARK EDUCATION COMPANY

Benchmark Education Company (BEC) is a leading publisher of core, supplemental, and intervention literacy and language resources in English and Spanish, with valid and reliable digital assessments that inform instruction. BEC is also a provider of exceptional professional development to educators.

BEC is recognized as a responsive publisher that offers equally rigorous and engaging digital, print, and hybrid learning materials grounded in the Science of Reading research. BEC monitors research outcomes carefully to create effective foundational resources that include strong decoding materials with systematic and explicit instruction and high-quality resources focused on language development and comprehension. BEC’s content-rich and authentic texts offer instruction in close reading and analysis, multiple perspectives, and authentic literature while building world knowledge and reflecting the individuality of every student in each diverse classroom.

Family owned and operated for more than 25 years, BEC is committed to partnering with educators to provide the best for all students through resources of exceptional quality, worldclass professional learning, and effective and dedicated customer support.