In 1993 PARADE magazine printed an article that featured a Student-Run Bookstore in the Bronx, New York. This innovative program served to put new children's books into the hands and homes of disadvantaged children at a low cost, while at the same time affording "student workers" the opportunity to gather real-world work experience. The founder of this program, Reading Teacher Robin Cohen, operated the Student-Run Bookstore program for 14 years and found it to be among the most rewarding experiences of her career. The PARADE article inspired thousands of teachers across the country to contact Robin and inquire about opening a Student-Run Bookstore of their own. Robin's son Jess Cohen gathered the letters and approached publishers about purchasing books for the sole purpose of helping schools open and run Student-Run Bookstores. Shortly after, Schoolwide, Inc. was born.

For the first five years of our existence Schoolwide opened and supplied books to Student-Run Bookstores, exclusively. Over the past 11 years we have expanded greatly, becoming a leading provider of educational products and services; a partner to some of the most well-respected educational organizations in the world; and most recently a curriculum developer, publisher, and professional development provider.

Because reading and writing are critical for success in the school, the community, and the workplace, Schoolwide, Inc. has a central mission to improve students' reading, writing, and learning by increasing the tools teachers can use to teach effectively. To this end, our most recent endeavors include the launch of two web sites, www.teacherwide.com and www.schoolwideonline.com, and the development of two literature-based curricular programs, Writing and Testing Fundamentals. These divisions grew an astonishing 600 percent in 2007-2008.

Teacherwide.com strives to make teachers' out-of-pocket expenditures go farther by offering a vast selection of thousands of quality educational products at affordable prices.

Schoolwideonline.com is the online version of Schoolwide's groundbreaking and cutting-edge wholesale book catalog. Schoolwide was the first book distributor to organize its catalog with the explicit objective of supporting classroom teachers implementing a balanced literacy model of instruction. For 10 years our catalog has been developed by educators, classroom teachers, and literacy staff developers and has featured Leveled Book Collections and Leveled Classroom Libraries; Books to Support Writing Workshop, including Genre Studies, Author Studies, and Craft Studies; Books to Support Reading Comprehension Instruction; and Literature in the Content Areas of Science, Social Studies, and Math.

In 2006 we assembled a diverse team of educators comprised of classroom teachers, college professors, literacy consultants, professional staff developers, and professional curriculum writers and editors. Collectively our team had more than 200 years of teaching experience working with both students and teachers. We focused on two areas of classroom instruction in particular, writing instruction and test preparation. The result was the launch of our Writing and Testing Fundamentals Programs.

Based on models of best practice in writing instruction, Schoolwide's Writing Fundamentals Units of Study for Grades K-5 provide teachers all the tools they need to implement and sustain a successful Writing Workshop, including teacher-friendly mini-lessons and supporting touchstone and mentor texts.

Testing Fundamentals is an innovative program that prepares students for standardized tests using proven, research-based instruction and authentic children's literature.

Sales of Schoolwide's Fundamentals materials skyrocketed in 2007-2008 as a result of many districtwide and schoolwide implementations in multiple states. The success of these first two curricular products has prompted further developmental projects, and in 2009 we look forward to the launch of our Writing Fundamentals Units of Study for Middle Schools (Grades 6-8) as well as the launch of the Fundamentals Resources web site, which we expect to evolve into an extensive online community of teachers sharing curricular thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

Schoolwide, Inc. began as a diminutive book distributor located in the basement of a house and run by two brothers, the sons of two public school teachers. Schoolwide has grown tremendously over the past 16 years and we look forward to continued success as we adhere to our guiding mission to improve the performance of students by increasing the tools their teachers can use to teach effectively.