Renaissance myON News & Reader
ELA
PreK - 12th Grade
Supplemental, Enrichment
Product: Renaissance myON News & Renaissance myON Reader
Company: Renaissance Learning, Inc.
Company Overview - Products/Services: Renaissance is a learning analytics company that makes cloud-based, pre-K-12 educational software. Our research-based assessments and practice solutions are built on more than 2.8 billion real-world data points that helps teachers teach better, students learn better, and administrators lead better. In addition to providing software as a solution, we offer hosted services and customized professional development.
Product Design - Problem Statement: myON News was designed to provide an engaging, interactive, and accessible source of authentic daily news and current events that is specifically geared toward a K-8 student audience. It fosters curiosity for learning, establishes daily reading habits, and engages students in current events.
myON Reader was designed to support daily reading practice by providing students unlimited access to a digital library of thousands of books that match their interests and reading levels. Embedded tools support reading and assignments. Students also may download up to 20 titles to read offline.
Grade-Level Focus:
- myON News: Kindergarten - 8th Grade (myON News also may be used to support struggling readers and English language learners in grades 9-12)
- myON Reader: Early Childhood - 12th Grade
Compatible Devices:
Android Tablets
Chrome OS
iOS Tablets (iPads)
Kindle Fires
OS X (Mac)
Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 10
Evidence of Effectiveness: myON News is a weekday electronic newspaper that presents age-appropriate news, current events, and feature articles to students in grades K-8. Although teacher's guides, article comprehension quizzes, extension activities, and vocabulary words are included with each edition, myON News is intended to serve as a content delivery tool that supports teacher-led learning. No research has been conducted specifically for myON News.
myON Reader's approach is based on research that shows students tend to read more when they have choice and ownership over their reading and learning. Each student completes an interest inventory to note the topics that interest them. Periodic Lexile assessments are administered to each student to pinpoint ideal levels of reading challenge. A proprietary algorithm uses each student's Lexile range and interest inventory data to suggest just-right titles. Students may access texts online or use a digital app to download up to 20 titles to read offline. Reading and writing tools help students connect to the texts they read, which further increases engagement and skill development. While myON Reader supports independent, self-directed reading and teacher assignments, additional tips and tools are offered to help families further engage their children in reading outside of school.
As of December 2018, 5 research pieces support the effectiveness of myON Reader. Of these, 1 is quasi-experimental; 2 have been published in a peer-reviewed journal; and 4 were led independently. The Renaissance Research Library hosts detailed information about the hundreds of studies that support the effectiveness of Renaissance's solutions. Users may search this online database of abstracts by keyword or solution name to view the related research pieces.
Product Integration - Weekly Usage Recommendations:
myON News
- Student Usage: 60 minutes
- Student Progression: There is no set curriculum or progression for myON Reader. Educators may set reading engagement goals for students. After a student complete san interest inventory and Lexile assessment, myON Reader recommends books that correspond to those criteria. As students practice reading with the recommended titles, brief quizzes ensure students comprehend what they read. Periodic Lexile tests pinpoint growth to update recommendations. Educators can use myON Reader to build book lists and create class-level projects that correspond to curriculum.
- Teacher Engagement: Schedule requirements will vary based on how a teacher uses myON News. If students access myON News for independent reading practice only, we encourage teachers to review student data on a weekly basis, which may take 30 to 60 minutes. Teachers who use myON News to support classroom instruction may need to spend a few hours per week with myON News if they are leading discussions or assigning and reviewing extension activities, such as student responses to prompts.
myON Reader
- Student Usage: 210 minutes
- Student Progression: There is no set curriculum or progression for myON Reader. Educators may set reading engagement goals for students. After a student complete san interest inventory and Lexile assessment, myON Reader recommends books that correspond to those criteria. As students practice reading with the recommended titles, brief quizzes ensure students comprehend what they read. Periodic Lexile tests pinpoint growth to update recommendations. Educators can use myON Reader to build book lists and create class-level projects that correspond to curriculum.
- Teacher Engagement: Schedule requirements will vary based on how a teacher uses myON Reader. We encourage teachers who use myON Reader to support guided independent reading practice to review student data on a weekly basis to check usage and ensure students are on track to meet goals, which may take 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the number of students. Teachers who use myON Reader to build standards-based reading lists, create projects, and assign journaling or writing to extensively support daily classroom instruction may need to spend several hours per week using myON Reader's tools to check students' work, review progress toward goals, and plan additional instruction and practice.
Learner Focused
Learner Led
Learner Demonstrated
Learner Connected
