DALLAS, July 8, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Archipelago Learning, (Nasdaq:ARCL) a leading subscription-based online education company, today announced it has been added to the Russell 2000® Index. The addition took place on June 28 when Russell Investments reconstituted its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes.
The annual reconstitution of Russell's U.S. indexes captures the largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 2000, which remains in place for one year, is based on inclusion in the broad-market Russell 3000® Index
"We are pleased to become members of the Russell Indexes, which reflects our continued positive momentum and efforts to increase shareholder value," said Tim McEwen, CEO of Archipelago Learning. "We expect our inclusion will increase our visibility in the investment community and expand our investor base."
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading $4 trillion in assets currently are benchmarked to them. These investment tools originated from Russell's multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers.
The Russell 3000 also serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index, which Russell launched in 2007.
About Russell
Russell Investments provides strategic advice, world-class implementation, state-of-the-art performance benchmarks and a range of institutional-quality investment products. Russell has $179 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2010, and serves individual, institutional and advisor clients in more than 40 countries. Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
About Archipelago Learning
Archipelago Learning is a leading subscription-based online education company that provides standards-based instruction, practice, assessments and productivity tools that improve the performance of educators and students via proprietary web-based platforms. Study Island, the core product line, helps students in kindergarten through 12th grade master grade-level academic standards in a fun and engaging manner and is utilized by over 10 million students in approximately 21,800 schools in the United States and Canada. EducationCity, which provides online K-6 instructional content and assessments for reading, mathematics and science, is used by 8,200 schools in the United Kingdom and 4,800 schools in the United States. Northstar Learning, for the post-secondary market, offers online instructional content and exam preparation products across a variety of core curriculum and vocational topics. For more information, please visit www.archipelagolearning.com. Archipelago Learning is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
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Forward Looking Statements:
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the Company. These forward-looking statements are based on current information and expectations, and are subject to risks and uncertainties discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement contained in this release, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.