PRIMEDIA Acquires American Guidance Service for Supplemental Education Group.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 1998--

Continues Leadership Position and Extends

Services to Special Needs Students

PRIMEDIA Inc. (NYSE: PRM), already a leader in supplementary educational publishing in the United States with products including Weekly Reader, announced today that the Company has acquired American Guidance Service (AGS) of Circle Pines, Minn., the leading publisher of assessments, textbooks and instructional materials for students with special educational needs. AGS will become a part of PRIMEDIA Supplemental Education. Terms were not disclosed.

Established in 1957, AGS has 155 employees and is a recognized leader as a publisher of individually administered tests that identify and assess special needs students. AGS has published more than 300 assessments, among them the widely used Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III) - an industry standard in early childhood assessment. With approximately 2.6 million learners - six percent of school children - having diagnosed learning disabilities, AGS fills a unique educational need because valid and reliable testing instruments are needed to determine eligibility for special education programs. Other assessments published by AGS measure cognitive ability, achievement, behavior and personal and social adjustment.

"The acquisition of AGS extends PRIMEDIA's ability to service the highly-targeted special needs area," said William F. Reilly, chairman and chief executive officer of PRIMEDIA.

AGS is a high-quality company that has a long history of providing useful and targeted information to those who need it. As with most of our acquisitions, the high-quality management team will remain in place to focus on strategically growing the business, and as a part of PRIMEDIA, AGS will continue to grow and expand its products. It will be a perfect addition to our supplemental education products group."

Commenting on the acquisition, John G. Welshons, president and chief executive officer of AGS said, "After forty years of serving the special needs of generations of children and professionals, the employees of AGS are excited to join in partnership with PRIMEDIA and its other education companies. This alliance is a great opportunity for AGS and for all its employees."

The company, which publishes more than 300 assessment titles, is a recognized leader in publishing individually administered tests for identifying and assessing special needs students. The tests and related support products measure cognitive ability, achievement, behavior and personal and social adjustment. Many of the publications are also available in Spanish.

In addition to the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III), other products published by AGS include industry standards such as: KeyMath Test, Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL-III), Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (K-TEA), DISCOVER: Skills for Life, Harrington-O'Shea Career Decision-Making System (CDM), Peabody Language Development Kits (PLDK), Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP), Cooperative Discipline and several curriculum-specific textbooks.

AGS also publishes more than 900 textbooks in the following subject areas: math, science/health, language arts, social studies and literature. In addition, AGS publishes more than 300 titles for the early childhood, elementary education, adult basic education, social skills development, language/speech/auditory skills, language arts, substance abuse/violence prevention, parenting education and family living, staff development/in-service training, career exploration, social and life skills, and counseling markets.

PRIMEDIA is the largest supplemental education publisher in the United States, with other products including: Weekly Reader, Channel One, World Almanac Education, Gareth Stevens, Films for the Humanities & Sciences and Facts On File News Services.

PRIMEDIA Inc., with sales during the past year of $1.2 billion, is the authoritative source of specialized information in targeted media (specialty magazines, trade magazines, consumer and business information) and education (classroom and workplace learning). Some key brands include Seventeen, New York, Chicago, Soap Opera Digest, Soap Opera Weekly, Channel One, Weekly Reader, Horticulture, World Almanac, Modern Bride and American Baby.