Partnering with Renaissance, nonprofit Future Forward combines capabilities of myON with Zoom for first-of-its-kind literacy solution.
Long-proven literacy solution Future Forward has expanded access to help more students improve literacy skills across the U.S. Future Forward serves schools, education organizations, out-of-school-time providers, and individual learners and families with a customizable, one-on-one tutoring and family engagement program for any and all K-3 students.
Future Forward combines Renaissance’s myON digital reading platform with the capabilities (and encryption features) of video communication platform Zoom. Renaissance’s Chief Product Officer Todd Brekhus said, “With the monumentally increased need for remote learning solutions, it’s thrilling to see myON working with Future Forward to engage students in real-time via one-on-one virtual tutoring. Working together, we have a combined ability to reach many young students in need.”
Select real-time data is available to educators, from pages read, minutes read, level of books read, completion rate of books opened, and other benchmarks/indicators; to individual reading habits, skills/abilities, and progress; as well as trends across the school, the district, region, and beyond.
Future Forward is also continuing the Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research evaluation now with both myON and the widely used (valid and reliable) Star Early Literacy assessment.
The program is based on Future Forward’s learning model shown to be effective in studies published by the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse. Future Forward executive director Kate Bauer-Jones said, “While Future Forward is an established program with a proven model and infrastructure, we are also an agile organization and felt it was imperative to quickly adapt to serve more students in this unprecedented school year.”
Learn more at: FutureForwardLiteracy.org/Virtual-Tutoring.
About Renaissance: As a global leader in assessment, reading, and math solutions for pre-K–12 schools and districts, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. Renaissance solutions are used in over one-third of US schools and in more than 100 countries worldwide. The Renaissance portfolio includes Star Assessments, for reliable, accurate insights into K–12 student learning; myIGDIs, for accurate assessment of early learning; myON, to increase students’ access to high-quality reading materials; Accelerated Reader, to support independent reading practice; Freckle, for teacher-led differentiated instruction; and Schoolzilla, to give educators actionable insights into trends in student attendance and achievement. For more information, visit www.renaissance.com.
Future Forward is funded by the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program, designed to generate and validate solutions to persistent educational challenges and to support the expansion of effective solutions to serve substantially larger numbers of students. The EIR Program, established under section 4611 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), provides funding to create, develop, implement, or replicate, entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students and rigorously evaluate such innovations.
Future Forward is a programmatic subsidiary of Education Analytics (EA), a nonprofit organization working across the country to solve challenges faced by school districts and others with real and actionable solutions. EA uses data to help make better decisions on policies and programs that lead to school and student success. EA’s analytics and Future Forward’s direct service model both work to improve educational outcomes for all students.