Benchmark Education Company Wins Two Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence for Back to School 2023

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, Sept. 18, 2023— Leading educational publisher Benchmark Education Company (BEC) is pleased to announce that it has received two 2023 Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence for “The Best Tools for Back to School,” which were announced today. Both awards were in the “Primary” category, with one going to the literacy intervention program Steps to Advance: Literacy Solutions, and the other to BEC’s professional learning portal Benchmark Academy.

The Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence for “The Best Tools for Back to School” recognize the best products in the education technology industry from the last 12 months and are intended to help readers of Tech & Learning Magazine find solutions that will support their work in any learning environment. Eligible products include hardware, software, curriculum, and more.

Steps to Advance: Literacy Solutions provides focused support for striving readers in Grades 2–6, with interactive materials and engaging texts that build knowledge and vocabulary while developing reading skills online and in print. Its gradual steps provide a scaffold to access grade-level complex text and work toward mastery of priority standards. “I appreciate the comprehensive approach they have taken with this product,” one awards judge wrote. “From interventions, PD, and teacher and parent resources, it is a very well-thought-out solution.”

Benchmark Academy is BEC’s online professional learning network, which offers relevant and research based interactive professional development for teachers of all levels. It includes multimedia courses, multiple reflection opportunities, and thoughtful supports, with exclusive access to some of the top minds in education, including literacy experts Wiley Blevins, Ed.D., and Patty McGee, M.Ed. “Benchmark Academy provides teachers with online PD to support their continued education, which in turn helps to support classroom instruction,” the judges noted. “Teachers can access a variety of content at any time, from anywhere.”

Explaining the main goal of this year’s awards program, Tech & Learning Content Director Christine Weiser said in a statement, “With ESSER funding coming to an end, and emerging tech like AI exploding into the market with little guidance as to how best to integrate this new technology into the classroom, it’s more important than ever to curate the many education products on the market to ensure your investments support innovative teaching and learning.” Weiser added, “Our judges chose the…nominated products based on their versatility, compatibility, value, and ability to help schools solve challenges and support continuous instruction. Congratulations to all of our winners.”

“We are honored to have received these two awards,” BEC founder and CEO Tom Reycraft said. “Steps to Advance and Benchmark Academy are groundbreaking programs in the ed-tech arena, each designed to support students and educators in the right way and with the right content. It has always been our mission to support learners in their journey to grow and succeed.”

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.