Texas and California Schools Use PLATO Educational Software to Improve Student Achievement and Test Performance.

Business Editors/Education Writers

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 31, 2000

Schools throughout Texas and California are turning to PLATO(R) educational software in increasing numbers to prepare students for success on state and national standards exams. "Texas and California are key states in the nationwide movement for graduation standards and accountability," said G. Thomas Ahern, PLATO Learning's senior vice president of sales and marketing. "Many schools in these states are expanding their use of PLATO educational software as they realize the benefits it offers in increasing overall student achievement and improving test results. An added benefit of the PLATO system, and perhaps the most important, is the positive impact it has on the motivation and self-esteem of the learners who are fortunate enough to have access to it. For many, PLATO offers them their first truly successful learning experience. It delivers self-paced instruction that creates a positive, nonthreatening learning environment that encourages exploration and ensures mastery -- all of which are very powerful motivators!" Ahern concluded, "PLATO really does offer real learning and real results to learners and educators alike."

Comal Independent School District in New Braunfels, Texas is expanding its use of PLATO in a contract valued in excess of $125,000. The PLATO system will be used as an integral part of the district's Ninth Grade Success Initiative program at each high school. The Ninth Grade Success Initiative was created and funded in Texas to address the needs of ninth grade students who are behind in credits and are at risk of dropping out of school. PLATO will also be used as part of the district's GED program, as well as for home-bound students. PLATO was selected because it allows for individualized instruction in the areas of English, math, science, and social studies. Since PLATO is correlated to the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) state standards for curriculum, students can recover credits by taking assessments that place them into an individualized learning path that teaches and tests to the specific objectives they need to master in order to receive credit.

Texas Can!, operator of Dallas Can!, Houston Can! and Fort Worth Can! is expanding its use of PLATO in Texas in a contract valued at $225,000. The expansion will include the installation of PLATO systems at three sites in Dallas and Fort Worth for use in credit recovery, high school diploma, Texas Assessment of Academic Skills preparation, and GED programs. PLATO was selected by the school based on the results of a formal evaluation conducted in June in which four products were reviewed. Evaluation results highlighted that PLATO offered more colorful and interesting graphics, an easier-to-use management system, comprehensive content, a discovery orientation, and that it fulfilled both GED and TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) requirements.

Winfree Academy Charter School Dallas, Texas will install two PLATO labs in a contract valued at about $110,000. An open-enrollment charter school, Winfree Academy will use PLATO to help students obtain high school credits. PLATO was selected for its quality, comprehensive curriculum and self-paced instruction. Melody Gibbs, president of Winfree Academy, commented, "PLATO is a perfect partner with our unique curriculum for providing a strong high school and GED program. Students whose needs range from college preparation to GED completion have experienced success." Eagle Advantage Technical High School, a new charter school also located in Dallas, will also install two PLATO labs to meet the needs of its students in a contract valued at $110,000.

Southern Kern Unified School District, located one hour north of Los Angeles in the California high desert, will use PLATO in three schools. Rosamond High School, a comprehensive high school with 800 students, will implement PLATO in a new program this fall for incoming 9th grade students who have not previously experienced academic success. Additionally, the high school will use the program to enhance the instructional program in the core academic areas. Rare Earth, the district's continuation high school, will be using PLATO as the main delivery system for most of the academic content areas. The Rare Earth PLATO lab will also be used in the evening in the Adult Education program. And finally, PLATO will be used at Tropico Middle School where the district's Opportunity Program is housed. The program is for high-risk middle school age students. PLATO educational software will be used to enhance the overall curricular offerings to this group of students as well as creating individualized learning programs established for each of the program's twenty participants. The installation reaffirms the appropriateness of PLATO for a broad range of programs serving adolescent to adult learners. The contract is valued in excess of $150,000.

San Juan Unified School District in Carmichael, California has installed PLATO in its nine high schools for use in its reading intervention program, with the goal of also extending its use to math labs at each high school in the near future. The district is also using the software in its alternative high schools and in its independent study program. The district's Visions in Education program, a home-learning charter school, has implemented PLATO in several hundred homes for K-12 education. This contract is an important venue for the new PLATO reading courses and demonstrates the various ways the software can be delivered -- over the district's wide area network for the high schools, and on stand-alone CD-ROM workstations for the home learning program. The contract is valued at over $250,000.

About PLATO Learning

With revenues of over $44 million, PLATO Learning, Inc. is a publicly held company traded as TUTR on the NASDAQ-NMS. Offering more than 2,000 hours and 10,000 learning objectives of comprehensive academic and applied skills courseware designed for adolescents and adults, PLATO Learning Systems are marketed to middle and high schools, colleges, job training programs, correctional institutions, military education programs, corporations, and consumers. PLATO is delivered via networks, CD-ROM, private intranets, and the Internet.

An international training and education company, PLATO Learning's headquarters are located at 10801 Nesbitt Avenue South, Bloomington, Minnesota, 55437 [phone] or [phone]. PLATO Learning has domestic offices located throughout the United States, and international offices in the United Kingdom and throughout Canada. PLATO Learning has international distributors located in Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. The company's Web site address on the Internet's World Wide Web is www.plato.com

This press release contains forward-looking information regarding future prospects. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to achieve any particular result in future periods because of uncertainties, such as timing of receipt of product orders and delivery to its customers and other matters relating to revenue recognition accounting principles.

(R) PLATO is a registered trademark of The Roach Organization, Inc. and TRO Learning, Inc. (R) All company names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.