Association of Educational Publishers, Association of American Publishers to Merge

Washington, DC and Wilmington, DE; May 20, 2013 – The Association of Educational Publishers and the Association of American Publishers are pleased to announce an agreement to merge, combining AEP’s quality programming and professional development with AAP’s public policy advocacy to provide the strongest services for the preK-12 education publishing industry in a rapidly changing environment.

“We are especially proud of the programs we’ve developed at AEP and are glad that they will be continued and enhanced,” said Lee Wilson, President of the Board of AEP. “Through this partnership, we will be able to support professionals across the industry in deeper, richer ways.”

“There’s been a synergy between AAP and AEP since we produced our first joint initiative in 2011. Our industry has evolved dramatically since then and will continue to do so. This merger is a logical next step to serve the longterm interests of preK-12 publisher members with a full range of programs, representation and services,” said Jay Diskey, Executive Director, School Division, AAP. “This decision reflects the evolution underway at AAP and gives AEP’s activities greater scope and scalability.”

AEP and the AAP School Division have developed a strong working relationship through numerous successful collaborations. These include the creation of the Healthy Guidelines for Educational Publishing, the Digital Learning Leadership Briefing on Capitol Hill, the annual Content in Context conference and various programs with international publishing association partners.

AEP and the AAP School Division were founded to serve the educational publishing industry. Both organizations’ services have evolved to address the opportunities presented by the emergence of educational technology. A new division within AAP will be created and structured pursuant to the merger agreement following its completion.

An informational session about the merger will take place Monday, June 3 at Content in Context, the major annual conference for professionals across the preK-12 learning resource industry. CIC is jointly presented by AEP and the School Division of AAP. All CIC registrants are invited to attend.Details and registration