myON, a business unit of Capstone and leading provider of personalized literacy solutions in the K-12 marketplace, and the Indiana Department of Education today announced their continued effort to give every student access to a high-quality education.

The Indiana Department of Education and myON first partnered in 2014 to offer all migrant students access to a literacy-based program. The goal was to provide students a unique learning experience including high-quality text at their individual reading levels, writing tools, and measurable performance outcomes.

“Our relationship with Indiana and its migrant education program is one we are extremely proud of,” said myON’s President Todd Brekhus. “As a complete literacy solution, we aim to serve students at all reading levels by meeting them where they are. By getting more books in the hands of migrant students, we have created a successful partnership. In the future we hope to continue our relationship with the Indiana Department of Education and help other migrant students around the country.”

A majority of Indiana’s migrant students travel with their parents and are in the state from April to October. To ensure high-quality instructional programming during the summer months, when many students do not have access to educational resources, Indiana’s six migrant regional centers provide summer programming to migrant students throughout the state. Since the start of the partnership, more than 1,222 migrant students have read more than 80,000 books, spending more than 15,000 hours reading. 

“The Indiana Department of Education is committed to ensuring that all students have access to the resources they need to learn and achieve both in the classroom and in life,” said Glenda Ritz, Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. “Through our partnership with myON, migrant students are receiving high-quality support to maintain and often increase their literacy levels.  I am proud of the work we have done over the past few years to educate these students, and I look forward to a continued partnership with myON to ensure all Hoosier students are on track to succeed.”

Students use myON during the school year, in migrant summer programs, and at home. Most migrant students take advantage of the literacy environment during the summer months as part of summer school programming provided around the state. In order to provide continued educational services and to track overall reading growth, the state offers students continued access to myON even if they leave the state at the end of the farming season.

During the summer of 2016, Indiana’s migrant students spent approximately 2,700 hours reading more than 12,091 books. Within the first two summers, 85% of participating students experienced reading growth or maintained their reading level. During the 2016 summer programs, students averaged a growth of seven Lexile® points in only 4 to 8 weeks.

myON’s digital literacy environment provides students a wide range of text specifically designed to help English language learners and Spanish-speaking students. myON also tracks students’ reading growth online by providing embedded Lexile assessments used to fulfill the federal requirement for measurable program outcomes for reading proficiency.

As part of the largest 1:1 technology initiative for migrant students in the nation, each student in the Indiana Migrant Education Program is provided a personal learning device and unlimited access to more than 8,600 digital books. Titles range from picture books to first readers to novels, classic literature, and informative texts. Students also have offline access to books so they’re able to read even without Internet access.

Since implementing myON, leaders at the Indiana Department of Education have noticed an increase in the time migrant students have spent reading, and have seen corresponding growth in their Lexile levels.

The success of myON and the Hoosier Family of Readers program, starting in 2013, triggered the Indiana Department of Education to adopt myON for the migrant students. This year, myON and the Department teamed up for a statewide Bicentennial Challenge, giving Indiana students the goal of reading 2 million books before 2017.