Glendale, Calif., March 2, 2017 – Today, Southern California Edison (SCE) and Age of Learning, Inc., announced SCE’s investment in the Bring Learning Home initiative to provide local families with free home checkout access to ABCmouse.com® Early Learning Academy through the County of Los Angeles Public Library. Bring Learning Home is a nationwide program that brings together public libraries, funders, and in-kind contributions from Age of Learning to make ABCmouse – the leading and most comprehensive digital learning resource for children ages 2 through 8 – available to families who may not otherwise have access to high-quality learning resources at home.
Winner of numerous awards from national education, parent, and media organizations, ABCmouse offers an expert-designed curriculum for preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. With more than 8,500 individual learning activities and 850+ complete lessons, ABCmouse encompasses reading and language arts, math, science, health, social studies, art, and music. Large-scale research studies have concluded that ABCmouse accelerates learning and helps children make significant gains in early literacy and math skills.
“Southern California Edison recognizes the critical importance of high-quality learning experiences, particularly STEM education, during the preschool and early elementary years,” said David Ford, Senior Government Affairs Representative for Southern California Edison. “We’re proud to support the Bring Learning Home initiative to help children prepare for success in school and beyond with a proven educational resource.”
Through its ABCmouse for Libraries program, Age of Learning provides ABCmouse to public libraries at no cost for in-library use. More than 6,000 public library branches – over 40% of all branches in the U.S. – make ABCmouse available for patrons to use on-site through this program, including more than 70% of the top 50 public libraries and 7 of the 10 largest systems in the country. Last year, there were more than 1,000,000 ABCmouse for Libraries child user sessions at libraries across the country.
SCE’s investment builds on Age of Learning’s existing partnership with the County of Los Angeles Public Library, the 6th largest public library system in the U.S. Over the past two years, public libraries across Los Angeles have had more than 130,000 child user sessions with more than 200,000 hours of learning on ABCmouse.
On February 24, 2017, at a special reopening celebration for the A C Bilbrew Library in South Central Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas commended Age of Learning for the Bring Learning Home initiative and presented the company with a letter of appreciation from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
“We’ve had this resource in our libraries for years and there has been so much enthusiasm around it,” said Skye Patrick, Director of the County of Los Angeles Public Library. “Now, we are thrilled to be part of Bring Learning Home and able to offer this opportunity to take that learning home to help more children make meaningful learning gains.”
The Bring Learning Home initiative helps close the achievement gap that begins when low-income children enter kindergarten unprepared to learn and widens as they move to 3rdgrade without yet having learned to read proficiently. This SCE and Age of Learning commitment will benefit families at the East Rancho Dominguez, Lennox, and Woodcrest branches of the County of Los Angeles Public Library system.
“For more than six years, Age of Learning has been working to help children everywhere prepare for success in school and beyond,” said Doug Dohring, founder and CEO of Age of Learning. “The Bring Learning Home initiative is advancing this critical mission by expanding access to high-quality early education for at-risk children, thanks to the generous support of likeminded partners such as Southern California Edison.”
When fully implemented, Bring Learning Home will enable the more than 16,000 public libraries across the U.S. to provide ABCmouse to families in their communities on a home checkout basis, with the goal of improving school readiness and reading proficiency for young learners.
To learn more about Bring Learning Home, including how to become a partner, contact Age of Learning at BringLearningHome@AofL.com.
About Age of Learning, Inc.
Age of Learning (www.AgeofLearning.com) is a leading education technology innovator and producer of the multi-award-winning ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy(www.ABCmouse.com), serving millions of children. Based in Los Angeles, the company blends education best practices, innovative technology, and insightful creativity to bring learning to life for children across the U.S. and around the world. Age of Learning’s content provides young learners, their families, and teachers with highly engaging and effective learning tools and a comprehensive curriculum that build a strong foundation for academic success. Recognized as the No. 1 digital learning resource for children ages 2–8, ABCmouse is regularly ranked as a leading children’s learning iPad, iPhone, and Android app in both Kids and Education categories; to date, children have completed more than 2 billion ABCmouse learning activities. The company’s Education Access Initiatives reach millions of children by offering the full award-winning ABCmouse curriculum at no cost to teachers and community institutions such as libraries, Head Start programs, and community centers—including public housing authorities and afterschool programs. Age of Learning launched ABCmouse for Schools (www.ABCmouseforSchools.com) in 2016 to meet the needs of school districts and school groups in the U.S. and internationally.