Renaissance Acquires myON Digital Literacy Platform

Renaissance (Wisconsin Rapids, WI) in March acquired myON (Mankato, MN) from the private equity firm Francisco Partners, adding more digital options to the company’s literacy solutions. The intent is to pair myON’s digital content library and literacy tools with Renaissance’s reading practice and assessment offerings to deliver a comprehensive suite of reading solutions to educators and students.

Renaissance CEO Daniel Hamburger said that the two organizations have similar values and are focused on solutions that try to make reading enjoyable while accelerating learning. For the 2018 selling season, the two company’s products will be marketed individually, but moving forward Renaissance will look at ways Renaissance’s assessment capability can enhance myON and provide educators with more actionable data.

Todd Brekhus, myON president, said he also sees the two companies fitting together in terms of culture and mission and he looks forward to leveraging the benefits of a blend of print and digital.

Brekhus said traditional basal programs have not transformed enough for the blended classrooms of today. What often is missing in the traditional programs is the opportunity to practice reading and to measure reading, he said.

Both Hamburger and Brekhus see the joining as an opportunity to further address the interest of schools in integrating reading across the subject areas and in having resources for bilingual students.

One of the elements of myOn’s early success was its large non-fiction library, integrating science and social studies and providing multiple ways to teach and learn, Brekhus said. myOn recently launched a Spanish version. Hamburger said one of Renaissance’s fastest growing solutions is Star Spanish. 

myON provides users with access to a personalized literacy ecosystem that offers unlimited reading in a curated library of more than 13,000 digital books matched to each learner’s reading level and interests. myON also provides news articles written for students, including French and Spanish content. Launched in 2011 as a division of Capstone (N. Mankato, MN), a publisher of children’s books and digital reading products, myOn has been implemented in some of the country’s largest school districts.

Brekhus will report to Hamburger as the president of myON at Renaissance and will be focused on product development & the integration of the two organizations. Together, Renaissance and myON will serve more than 20 million students worldwide.

For more information on Renaissance and other leading providers of educational resources, check out Simba Information’s report Publishing for the PreK-12 Market, 2017-2018.