Pennsylvania Firm Sees Great Growth in Education Space, Forecasts 30% Revenue Increase

American Reading Company is quickly becoming the go-to provider of customized curricular support and residency-model professional development for schools and school districts, and a sought-after partner for school districts, corporations, foundations, and not-for-profit education providers.

Operated by a team of 137 employees, and anchored on an 11-acre campus in King of Prussia, PA, American Reading Company serves 631 school districts in 43 states and the District of Columbia—a reach that extends to 3642 schools each school day.

The company, founded by CEO Jane Hileman in 1998, a former Philadelphia school teacher, just achieved its best year ever, and this upward trend continues in consecutive monthly growth. Revenues are up from $20 million to $24 million since last year (a 22% increase), and indicators suggest first-quarter earnings for its fiscal year which began July 1 will be up 30% over last year.

This rapid and sustained growth reflects a relentless focus on four key areas fundamental to student achievement: ensuring 1) complete transparency in performance management; 2) teachers and school and district leaders fully implement the Common Core State Standards for Reading and Language Arts and prepare students for the high-stakes Next Generation Assessments; 3) parents have the support they need to put home academic routines in place; and 4) students have access to the best fiction and nonfiction books in print and adopt the academic routines of avid readers.

While many other companies are scrambling to make the transition to digital or web-based models of curriculum delivery, American Reading is uniquely positioned to accomplish that goal seamlessly. Long convinced that every child is a reader with the right book, the company has compiled a state-of-the-art 90,000-title book database through ongoing partnerships with more than 220 school and trade publishers in the English and Spanish markets. Using this database, its classroom library designers have built classroom libraries, thematic text sets, and customized library collections organized by topics, themes, and reading levels, with considerations given to gender, ethnicity, and interest.

Aware that web-based and digital instruction is part of every child’s future, American Reading’s publishing division, ARC Press, has digitized its beginning reading collection in both English and Spanish, making it the largest collection of its kind in the world. American Reading at Home, the company’s direct-to-parents retail source, provides home coaching and beginning reader books and has been endorsed by the Dr. Sears brand. Beginning this fall, ARC Press titles will also be available on various consumer shopping websites.

American Reading Company boasts partnerships with some of the country’s largest and most challenged school districts, including New York City, Trenton, Camden, Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Boston, Chicago, Akron, Denver, and Philadelphia. American Reading Company also supports literacy initiatives driven by corporations and nonprofit entities, including Annie E. Casey, AMETEK, United Way, The Wallace Foundation, UPS, and others.