Press Releases

SCANTRON CORPORATION TO ACQUIRE EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANY GLOBALSCHOLAR

San Antonio, TX, December 16, 2010 – Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., the parent company of Scantron Corporation, today announced that Scantron has signed a definitive agreement to acquire GlobalScholar, a privately-held education technology company. GlobalScholar’s technology solutions are marketed under the “Pinnacle” brand and are designed to manage the entire cycle of learning for K-12 students, teachers, parents and education administrators. The acquisition of GlobalScholar furthers Scantron’s rapid expansion of web-based education solutions, combining GlobalScholar’s innovative instructional management platform with Scantron’s testing and assessment solutions and Scantron’s recent acquisition of Spectrum K-12 School Solutions’ response to intervention (RTI), student achievement management and special education software solutions.

GlobalScholar’s award winning Pinnacle Suite ™ supports all aspects of managing education at K-12 schools, including student information systems; performance-based scheduler; gradebook; learning management system; longitudinal data collection, analysis and reporting; teacher development and performance tracking; and online communication and tutoring portals. Serving a student population of more than five million, GlobalScholar partners with some of the most progressive and innovative school systems in America. GlobalScholar is based in Bellevue, Washington, and currently has approximately 330 employees, including a state-of-the-art software development operation in Chennai, India.

“GlobalScholar is a recognized leader in developing tools to allow effective personalization of education while maximizing the education experience. There is a growing sense of urgency to provide solutions that will help bring a new level of excellence to education systems. Scantron and GlobalScholar’s combined solutions will provide powerful tools for teachers, administrators and parents, in schools and districts of any size, as they work to improve the achievement levels for all students” said Bill Hansen, president of Scantron and Former United States Deputy Secretary of Education.

Chuck Dawson, president and CEO of Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of M&F Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: MFW) stated, “We are committed to providing solutions that will enable students and educators to achieve the highest level of excellence. Comprehensive student information management, efficient delivery of content, and customizable assessment approaches are imperative to
achieving this goal. We believe the combination of GlobalScholar, Scantron, and Spectrum K-12 web-based solutions will provide a powerful approach to meeting the needs of school administrators while helping students and teachers achieve 21st century skills and readiness.” 

Scantron has utilized technology for more than three decades to provide assessment and survey solutions to education, commercial and government organizations. Its reputation is built upon its pioneering products and services that allow for the rapid, accurate and reliable capture of student performance data. Scantron’s Performance Series® is a computer-adaptive diagnostic tool that assesses student proficiency levels across a range of subjects which correspond to specific state standards. The award-winning Achievement Series® is a web-based district-wide assessment solution that allows K-12 educators to develop and administer online and paper-based tests, capture immediate results and produce standards-based reports. Spectrum K-12’s award-winning EXCEED® platform tracks student data to assess when special intervention or special teaching methodologies are advisable to further student achievement. Scantron is also the source of value-added services like hardware sales, forms and main