Pleasantville NY, April 10, 2006 -- Naviance, of Washington, DC, has been named "Best of America" by the editors of Reader’s Digest magazine. This celebration of the quirky, amazing and truly extraordinary is featured in the May issue, on newsstands April 18.

After speaking to hundreds of experts and ordinary folk, the editors tested, tasted and debated everything from the Best Sandwich to the Best Must-Have Gadgets to the Best Buzz Cut. The resulting list is organized in six categories — Legacies, Passions, Adventure, Innovations, Time Off and Connections.

"Our country is full of hidden treasures, creative products and inspiring stories that often don’t grab the national spotlight," said Reader’s Digest Editor-in-Chief Jackie Leo. "We had great fun putting this lively and surprising issue together."

"It’s an honor to be selected as ‘Best School Tool,’" said Stephen M. Smith, Naviance CEO. "Our goal has always been to listen and respond to the needs of school communities, and being identified as one of the country’s best innovators confirms that we’ve met that goal better than any other company in our market."

Reader’s Digest "America’s 100 Best" can be identified by state or category on www.rd.com/boa where readers can nominate entries for next year’s collection.

About Naviance

Naviance is the leading provider of planning and advising systems for secondary schools. More than 14,000 educators and counselors serving 1.5 million students in schools across the U.S. and in more than 25 countries use Naviance products to manage academic and post-secondary advising, communicate with students and families, and analyze data. For more information, visit www.naviance.com.

About Reader’s Digest

Reader’s Digest reaches about 80 million readers worldwide each month. The magazine celebrates ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and delivers a compelling mix of humor, personal service and other human-interest stories. Reader’s Digest is published in 20 languages and 50 editions worldwide.

For more information, contact:

Naviance > Carol E. Wasden, 303.957.9993 x3527, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Washington, DC, March 15, 2007 -- While students across the country wait anxiously for college admission decisions, secondary school counselors using WorkspaceK12 from Naviance await the news with more confidence. By collecting historical admission data specific to their schools, counselors can give students a much more accurate estimation of their admission prospects than by relying on guidebooks or even the colleges’ own published statistics.

Harry Kisker, Director of College Counseling at The Branson School north of San Francisco, is one of those counselors who has seen improvements in his students’ college processes. “Since we started with Naviance data in the spring of 2003, our families have significantly diversified the schools to which they apply — resulting in higher positive results,” he says. “This year, for example, we had a significant jump in ED [Early Decision] admits, largely as a result of kids applying more realistically than they had in the past. Once our admit rate on ED's was about 50%. It has jumped to 72%, as kids applied more realistically based on the historical data.”

Geoffrey R. Smith, Director of College Advising at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco also uses WorkspaceK12 from Naviance in his counseling program. “Absolutely, students and parents are more realistic when they look at the historical decision data for each college that they are contemplating,” he says. “I have no doubts that more information means better decisions on the students' parts.”

Smith’s data support that claim. “Our first graduating class (2005) with no historical data from which to work had an overall acceptance rate of 54%, while the second graduating class (2006) with one year of historical data had an overall acceptance rate of 66%,” he says. Smith will compile the overall acceptance rate for the third graduating class (2007) in June 2007.

As seniors report their admission results to their high schools, Naviance Network counselors also use that information to benefit the juniors and sophomores who are starting to plan for their own futures. Kisker says WorkspaceK12 “is also a useful tool in advising sophomores and juniors who have ambitions about one college or another, to see where they need to put their energies in terms of improving their grades or test scores or both.” WorkspaceK12 ensures that every stakeholder in the school community — counselors, students, parents, and administrators — gets the greatest benefit from the school’s counseling program.

About Naviance

Helping students achieve greater academic and post-secondary success is core to Naviance’s mission. More than 1,600 secondary schools in 42 countries worldwide use WorkspaceK12 from Naviance to increase students’ college and career readiness. For more information, visit www.naviance.com.

For more information, contact:

Carol E. Wasden, 303.892.3227, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Washington, DC, March 28, 2007 -- Naviance, the leading provider of planning and advising systems for schools, and Blackboard Inc., (NASDAQ: BBBB) a leading provider of enterprise technology to the education industry, both headquartered in Washington, DC, have partnered with Virginia’s largest school district to deliver an innovative offering that gives students and parents access to both companies’ services through a single user account.

Fairfax County Public Schools is recognized as an innovator in the application of educational technology. The district uses Family Connection, part of WorkspaceK12 from Naviance, to deliver comprehensive academic and post-secondary planning and advising services, and through Blackboard technology, the district offers students access to homework and course enrichment resources. Now, for the first time, these two services are being piloted in eight schools through an integrated account requiring only a single sign-in.

“The Blackboard Academic Suite is a powerful environment for teaching and learning,” said Matthew S. Pittinsky, chairman of Blackboard. “We’re pleased to have worked with Naviance and FCPS to demonstrate how the Blackboard Academic Suite supports an integrated technology environment to facilitate K-12 education – both inside and outside of the classroom.”

“Family Connection provides extensive resources that help students learn more about themselves and plan for career and college opportunities after high school,” said Stephen M. Smith, CEO of Naviance. “Linking Family Connection and the Blackboard Academic Suite is a natural way for schools to connect instructional resources with counseling and planning activities to benefit all students.”

Single sign-on integration for Family Connection is currently supported in Blackboard Academic Suite version 7.

About Naviance

Naviance is the world’s leading provider for Web-based academic planning and advising systems for schools. The Naviance Network includes over 23,000 educators serving nearly 2.2 million students in schools in 42 countries worldwide who have chosen WorkspaceK12 to support their comprehensive counseling programs. WorkspaceK12 helps schools and districts manage the entire advising process to help every student succeed. For more information, visit www.naviance.com.

About Blackboard Inc.

Blackboard Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise software applications and related services to the education industry. Founded in 1997, Blackboard enables educational innovations everywhere by connecting people and technology. Millions of people use Blackboard every day at academic institutions around the globe, including colleges, universities, K-12 schools and other education providers, as well as textbook publishers and student-focused merchants that serve education providers and their students. Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

About Fairfax County Public Schools

The largest school district in Virginia, and the 13th largest in the United States, Fairfax County Public Schools serve over 164,000 students. With a 3:1 student to computer ratio and more than 90,000 workstations, FCPS is committed to using technology to deliver better and expanded service to their students, parents, administrators, and teachers.

For more information, contact:

Naviance: Carol Wasden, 202.349.2700, ext. 3227, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Blackboard: Melissa Chotiner, 202.463.4860, ext. 2404, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Fairfax County Public Schools: Francine Macdonald, 703.503.7405

Comprehensive solution encourages college and workplace readiness for all students

Washington, DC, February 4, 2008 -- In today’s educational climate, school districts need to ensure that students are prepared for both college and career paths beyond high school. In many cases, this means equipping every school with the right tools and resources that encourage student success. Naviance, the leader in planning and advising systems for schools, recognizes the challenges that schools face in working with students, and has developed a comprehensive solution designed to provide a supportive environment for administrators to work collaboratively with counselors to improve student achievement.

Today Naviance launches StepUp™, a comprehensive service offering that helps districts collect critical student achievement data, report and analyze results, and facilitate professional development for counseling and administrative staff. Building on the company’s flagship product, WorkspaceK12, StepUp allows school districts to implement an active planning process that ensures student readiness for post-secondary education and the workplace.

StepUp provides vertical articulation, designed to place students in the most rigorous courses indicated for their skill levels; climate surveys to measure key dimensions of a school’s climate including measures for a college-going community; reporting to ensure that students are placed on their optimal trajectory; and introduces the Counselor Professional Learning Community™ (CPLC), a professional development opportunity that ensures counselors receive the most timely information and relevant tools to effectively counsel students toward their post-secondary plans. With the CPLC, counselors can implement the ASCA National Model™ of best practices.

With StepUp, districts can utilize data effectively for proactive and long-term planning, monitor climate changes, and encourage student enrollment in rigorous courses. StepUp also engages and empowers all school and/or district staff to elevate current expectations and outcomes.

“School districts face increasing pressure to ensure student readiness, meet or exceed state standards, and increase graduation rates” said Stephen M. Smith, CEO, Naviance. “StepUp provides districts with the framework to address these expectations, and ultimately, student outcomes.”

StepUp is now available to school districts across the country.

About Naviance

Naviance, a Hobsons company, is the leading provider of planning and advising systems for secondary schools. More than 30,000 educators and counselors serving more than 3 million students in schools across the U.S. and in 50 other countries use Naviance products to manage academic and post-secondary advising, communicate with students and families, and analyze data. Naviance also offers services for higher education institutions that simplify the process of providing up-to-date information to secondary school counselors to support the college admission process. For more information, visit www.naviance.com.

For more information, contact:

Sara Snyder, 800.927.8439 x3242, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it