Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), along with six other community partners, announced that they will renew their Community of Readers Initiative with myON, a business unit of Capstone. The community-wide literacy program began in February 2012 as a project with an ambitious goal – to raise literacy in Hillsborough by providing full access to myON’s personalized literacy environment for every child in the county from birth to eighth grade.
All original community partners have renewed their commitment to literacy along with HCPS and myON, which include: The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, United Way Suncoast, BOCC Head Start, Tampa Housing Authority and the Early Learning Coalition.
When the project came up for renewal, Hillsborough County Schools Acting Superintendent Jeff Eakins said, “This program has been wildly successful since its inception and has provided an extremely valuable opportunity to each child in our community. As one of the largest districts in the country, we are committed to raising the bar surrounding literacy. This renewed commitment to reading reflects the strength of our community and emphasizes the importance of providing innovative opportunities for each of our learners,” he explained.
The Read on myON project continues to draw parents, teachers, administrators, students, and enthusiastic nonprofits to support this initiative. As the eighth largest district in the nation the district has made literacy for all a top priority, many of HCPS’ students are learning English as their second language, and 17% are below the poverty line. Since its launch, Hillsborough County children have read over 6.6 million books and spent more than 200 years reading.
“We could not be happier to continue our partnership with Hillsborough County Schools, it has been extremely exciting to watch this ‘village’ of partners come together to support literacy across their community,” stated Todd Brekhus, president of myON. “Because of the success of Read on myON, more communities are working to emulate the success that this community is having. The dedication of Acting Superintendent Eakins, his team at HCPS and all of the partners is paramount to ensuring each students’ success; we are glad to be a part of their vision.”
Eakins has dedicated the past 25 years to further educational opportunities for the kids of Hillsborough County, first as a teacher, then principal, and finally as a district administrator. The district is already nationally ranked, thanks to the passion brought to this program and others like it. Since 2012, all 27 public high schools were included on the Washington Post's list of the most academically challenging public high schools in America. The Read On MyON project continues in that tradition.
About myON
myON, a business unit of Capstone, has developed an award-winning personalized digital literacy environment that creates collaborative learning opportunities. myON expands the classroom for teachers and students by providing unlimited access to the largest collection of more than 8,000 enhanced digital books with multimedia supports, real-time assessments and close reading tools. myON empowers students and teachers with real-time, actionable data—number and type of books opened and read, time spent reading, results of regular benchmark assessments, and more—based on embedded Lexile® assessments that measure student reading growth. With myON, every student experiences the benefits of personalized literacy instruction. For more information, please visit www.myON.com.