Better Health for All

Scholastic's core business of providing children's books and educational materials delivers significant health benefits, as literacy is strongly correlated with better physical and mental health outcomes. Studies show book readers live longer, and Head Start graduates have a lower likelihood of chronic health conditions like obesity and depression.

The company's products do not have any established negative health outcomes. Scholastic partners with organizations such as Save the Children, Reach Out and Read, and Book Trust to provide books to underserved children, aiming to improve access to literacy for all, regardless of economic background. These partnerships contribute to health equity by reaching vulnerable populations. The company also collaborates with the Yale Child Study Center on initiatives focused on the connection between literacy and child and family resilience, which includes mental health outcomes. Scholastic's philanthropic efforts include donating millions of books and supporting programs that advance children's well-being and literacy, indirectly contributing to health education and equity.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Scholastic offers several financial literacy programs, including "Teachers With Tax Basics for Middle Schoolers" and "Math and Money" for middle school students.

The "Plan, Save, Succeed!" program, developed with The Actuarial Foundation, teaches budgeting, income, saving, and credit concepts. The company also partners with the Intuit Financial Freedom Foundation, which creates easy-to-understand, tax-focused curriculum for disadvantaged, lower-income individuals, small businesses, and non-profit organizations. However, as Scholastic is a publishing and education company and not a financial services provider, these initiatives are considered outside the scope of direct financial literacy programs offered by a financial institution, hence a score of 0.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

Scholastic Corporation's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 47:1 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.

The company reported that 18% of its global employees are represented by labor unions. The recordable occupational injury rate (TRIR) for employees was 0.40 in 2023, with a fatality rate of 0.00 for both employees and contractors. The company reported a gender pay equity ratio of 99% and a minority pay equity ratio of 100% in 2023. Additionally, 96% of eligible employees were enrolled in medical coverage in 2023. The U.S. voluntary turnover rate for minority employees was 4.1% in 2023.

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

Scholastic conducts yearly audits for its overseas suppliers and audits its domestic suppliers every two years.

Supplier contracts include anti-forced labor and child labor clauses, but no specific percentage of contracts covered by these clauses is provided.

Honest & Fair Business

The company's Audit Committee is responsible for establishing procedures for the confidential, anonymous submission of concerns regarding accounting or auditing matters by employees, with multiple contact channels including independent counsel, and explicitly prohibits retaliation against employees who report in good faith.

However, there is no evidence of independent investigation processes or training frequency. The company's financial statements, including annual and quarterly reports, are accessible on its investor relations website and filed with the SEC, and the company explicitly states that its financial statements do not reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements, nor did any error corrections require a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation. The company has a comprehensive anti-corruption policy that prohibits bribes, kickbacks, and impermissible gifts, and requires compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK Bribery Act 2010, explicitly stating that facilitation payments are not permitted under the UK act. The Board of Directors is required to have a majority of independent directors per NASDAQ criteria, and all members of the Audit, Human Resources and Compensation, and Nominating and Governance Committees must be independent. However, the Estate of Richard Robinson beneficially owns a majority of Class A Stock and can elect up to four-fifths of the Board, and Iole Lucchese controls the voting of the Estate's Class A Stock, indicating a significant concentration of control that impacts board independence. The company's cybersecurity program, security posture, incident response, and security awareness training are tested by an external party to evaluate their effectiveness and maturity rating, and it maintains a procurement policy that extends purchasing preference to products and suppliers aligned with environmental goals, including credible reporting and verification.

Kind to Animals

No data relevant to Scholastic Corporation's performance on 'Kind to Animals' was found in the provided articles.

All articles explicitly stated that no content was available or no relevant data could be extracted regarding animal welfare, product certifications, testing practices, or conservation efforts.

No War, No Weapons

No specific, concrete data points were found in the provided articles to score Scholastic Corporation against the 'No War, No Weapons' ethical value. The articles discuss general business operations, ethical supplier codes

, and charitable donations of books and cash , but do not provide quantitative or qualitative evidence directly related to arms contracts, dual-use technologies, sales to embargoed regimes, peacebuilding investment as a proportion of revenue, or other specific metrics outlined in the rubric for this value.

Planet-Friendly Business

In FY23, Scholastic reported total GHG emissions of 462,854 tCO2e across Scope 1, 2, and 3, with Scope 3 accounting for 94.1% of the total.

These emissions were quantified by a certified third party following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Value Chain methodology. The company recycled 1,328 tons (2,656,000 pounds) of corrugate from its warehouses in 2021. Scholastic has a formal zero-deforestation policy, stating it will not knowingly do business with companies involved in illegal logging operations.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

Scholastic faced significant backlash and accusations of censorship in late 2023 for its decision to create a separate, optional collection of diverse books at book fairs, which was criticized as segregating titles on race and LGBTQ+ themes.

Over 1,500 authors and illustrators signed a petition in response to this policy. Following public pressure, Scholastic issued an apology and reversed the segregation policy, discontinuing the 'Share Every Story' set in January 2024.

Safe & Smart Tech

A data breach occurred on January 8, 2025, affecting approximately 8 million individuals, with 4.2 million unique email addresses compromised.

The exposed data included names, email addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses, including over 1 million 'education contacts'. The breach was reported on January 13, 2025, and was attributed to stolen employee login credentials, malware, and a lack of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). The company uses multi-factor authentication across most of its environment, but the breach highlights a vulnerability due to its absence in some areas. Scholastic encrypts sensitive student data in transit and at rest. The company conducts annual data protection and cybersecurity training, plus ongoing phishing simulations, for all employees and consultants with access to information systems. Scholastic performs periodic risk assessments, audit trails, security logs, penetration and vulnerability testing, and disaster recovery simulations. The company collects only necessary data and retains it for the period reasonably necessary to support services. Scholastic states it complies with FERPA, COPPA, the New York State Parents' Bill of Rights, CCPA, and GDPR. Users (students, parents) may have access, correction, export, or deletion rights, but the specifics are dependent on the Education Customer (school/district). For kids' accounts, parents can review, deactivate accounts, revoke consent, delete data, and stop data collection.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

In 2012, Scholastic used 18.2% recycled paper out of its total fiber, falling short of its 25% target for that year.

By 2015, 81% of paper purchases contained post-consumer recycled content, with individual product content ranging from 10% to 100%. The company has a goal to use a minimum of 60% FSC-certified paper for publication paper purchases. Scholastic requires all paper suppliers to comply with local, state, and federal regulations and prohibits business with companies involved in illegal logging. The company also launched a 'green' website for kids, indicating some commitment to educating customers on environmental practices.