Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Renaissance and Hillsborough County Celebrate 10 Years of Equitable Access to Thousands of Books

Bloomington, Minn. (Feb. 10, 2022) – Renaissance, the global leader in pre-K–12 education technology, is honored to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the community reading initiative Read on myON, a first-of-its-kind partnership between Renaissance and Hillsborough County Public Schools.

Designed to promote equity and eliminate accessibility gaps in access to high quality books regardless of a student’s socioeconomic status or attendance in a particular school, Read on myON was made possible by an entire community of partners, including Hillsborough County Public Schools, The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County, Head Start of Hillsborough County, Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, Tampa Housing Authority, Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA, and United Way Suncoast.

Over the 10 years of the Read on myON collaboration, hundreds of thousands of children from birth through 8th grade have had free access to the myON platform. Thirty-nine percent of the books children access through the program are opened for the first time outside of school hours, and books have been accessed over 71,718,216 times since the inception of the program in 2012, equating to over 336 million minutes spent reading.…Read More

Renaissance Offers Unlimited, Free Access to More Than 6,500 Digital Books and News Articles

To highlight the importance of daily reading during the COVID-19 pandemic, Renaissance, a global leader in pre-K–12 education technology, is offering unlimited free access to myON digital books and news articles from February 1–7, 2021. The importance of reading materials at home cannot be overstated. In fact, research shows that kids with access to at least 500 books at home are more likely to graduate high school, while kids with minimal access to books often don’t make it past grade 9.*

Students, educators, and parents will access myON through a simple log-in, and low-bandwidth and offline reading options will maximize the reach of the Life Is Better When We Read Together initiative. As part of the week-long celebration of reading, Renaissance will also publish live metrics throughout to see if participants can top last year’s engagement and crack the goal of half a million hours spent reading.

Teachers are encouraged to share what their students are reading on Instagram using the hashtag #BetterWhenWeReadTogether and tag the @renlearnus account. On February 22, one lucky teacher will be randomly selected and their school will receive a six month subscription to myON. If they are already a myON customer, they will be able to gift the subscription to an eligible school of their choice and choose a publisher package add-on for their own school.…Read More

Renaissance Offers Unlimited, Free Access to More Than 6,500 Digital Books and News Articles

To highlight the importance of daily reading during the COVID-19 pandemic, Renaissance, a global leader in pre-K–12 education technology, is offering unlimited free access to myON digital books and news articles from February 1–7, 2021. The importance of reading materials at home cannot be overstated. In fact, research shows that kids with access to at least 500 books at home are more likely to graduate high school, while kids with minimal access to books often don’t make it past grade 9.*

Students, educators, and parents will access myON through a simple log-in, and low-bandwidth and offline reading options will maximize the reach of the Life Is Better When We Read Together initiative. As part of the week-long celebration of reading, Renaissance will also publish live metrics throughout to see if participants can top last year’s engagement and crack the goal of half a million hours spent reading.

Teachers are encouraged to share what their students are reading on Instagram using the hashtag #BetterWhenWeReadTogether and tag the @renlearnus account. On February 22, one lucky teacher will be randomly selected and their school will receive a six month subscription to myON. If they are already a myON customer, they will be able to gift the subscription to an eligible school of their choice and choose a publisher package add-on for their own school.…Read More

Renaissance is helping to support student learning outside of school

Working to support students during unexpected school closures, Renaissance is offering several free programs including myON, myON News, and Freckle that enable students to access literacy and math activities and to complete assignments remotely. To further assist educators, they’ve curated a list of additional free resources that includes implementation guides, learning activities, family letters, and the 2020 What Kids Are Reading report to make the best use of their Renaissance programs to support student learning outside of school.

Free programs for remote learning

Renaissance is working to find solutions for students suddenly learning remotely during this unexpected global crisis. Renaissance is offering several free programs that enable students to access literacy and math activities and to complete assignments remotely.

myON and myON News
myON is a digital library that provides 24/7 access to thousands of fiction and nonfiction titles. Titles are available in English and Spanish.

myON News delivers engaging daily articles, reporting on US and world events that are reviewed by a child psychologist. Articles are available in both English, Spanish, and French.…Read More

A tale of two pilots

Ed. note: Choosing hardware or software for an entire school district is a momentous decision, so it only makes sense that districts across the country are choosing to pilot products before signing on the dotted line. Here are two case studies of how carefully planned and executed pilots helped districts make informed choices—and improve teaching and learning.

Listen and Learn

Central Falls School District, Rhode Island
Becky Oristaglio, Speech and Language Pathologist

Hearing and understanding what is being said in the classroom play a crucial role in a student’s speech and language development, reading and spelling ability, attention and concentration, and overall academic achievement. Experiencing the impact of poor acoustics in the classroom led me on a journey to create an environment where communication was optimal for students in my charge.…Read More