(MINNEAPOLIS, MN) July 14, 2016 – myON, a business unit of Capstone and leading provider of personalized literacy solutions in the K-12 marketplace, and Oxnard School District are joining forces to reach the district’s goal of having students read one billion words by the end of summer 2016.

The challenge provides access to thousands of books through myON’s cloud-based personalized literacy platform in order to reduce the effect of summer slide, as well as to encourage the love of reading for life-long learning. With myON, the district has easy access to time spent reading and statistics on the number of words and books read.

Since myON launched in November 2014 at Ramona Elementary School, students in the district have read more than one million books, which equates to approximately 826 million words. Eleven students have met or surpassed the million-word challenge since the first day of the 2015 school year.

As part of an incentive program, students earn prizes for the time spent reading, which includes certificates, gift cards, bracelets, a treat at lunch, and/or lunch with the superintendent. Students are encouraged to read on their personal devices using myON or manually log hours spent reading on a reading log.

"Strong literacy skills are the foundation for all academic success; we take that very seriously within our district," said Dr. Cesar Morales, the superintendent of Oxnard School District. “With about 174 million words to go, we are well on our way to reaching, perhaps exceeding, our goal of one billion words read before the start of the 2016 school year, which is a true testament to the dedication of our educators and the determination of our students.”

myON’s extensive selection of Spanish titles and unlimited access to texts outside of school helps bridge the gap between English reading students and the district’s growing population of English language learners.

To build a community of readers and gain support from parents, Oxnard is enhancing and streamlining communication from the district to parents during the summer months. Oxnard is promoting its school app and providing information on how they can help their student read over the summer, and other tactics to prevent summer slide.

“myON is excited to partner with Superintendent Morales and his team at Oxnard School District to support their culture of reading,” said myON’s President Todd Brekhus. “As we strive toward our shared vision of empowering all children to achieve excellence, Oxnard and myON will encourage the community throughout the summer to achieve our amazing goal of reading one billion words before the start of the 2016 school year, and foster a love for reading.”