Children from low-income families begin to fall behind their peers in vocabulary development before they’re even two years old. By the time they reach fourth grade, 80 percent of these children are not proficient readers (Source: Campaign for Grade-Level Reading). This learning deficit has long-term effects on children’s academic future, including their likelihood of graduating from high school.

To help address this challenge, Age of Learning has developed a set of Education Access Initiatives to make our educational programs available for free to children whose families may not be able to afford a subscription. Our Education Access Initiatives have helped educate more than 6 million children and counting across all 50 states, at no cost to families, teachers, or libraries. And the cumulative value of our in-kind contributions exceeds $100 million to date.

ABCmouse for Teachers

In 2011, shortly after we launched ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy, we developed a fully-featured version for teachers to use in their classrooms at no cost. Since then, ABCmouse for Teachers has grown every year and served several million students in preschools, Head Start centers, and elementary schools across the country. More than 140,000 teachers, including approximately 1 in 4 kindergarten teachers, used ABCmouse in their classrooms during the last school year.

ABCmouse for Libraries

Recognizing the critical role of libraries in serving at-risk children, we created ABCmouse for Libraries in 2014 to make ABCmouse available for free in public libraries. Librarians have embraced this program, which families can now access in more than 7,800 public libraries—close to 50% of all library branches in the U.S.—including more than 70% of the 200 largest library systems. Over the past year, children have completed more than one million ABCmouse learning sessions in public libraries.

ABCmouse for Community Centers

In 2015, we launched ABCmouse for Community Centers to provide free ABCmouse access in afterschool programs, computer centers in public housing facilities, and other community centers that want to offer educationally enriching experiences for children with limited resources. We have partnered with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and ConnectHomeUSA to serve families living in public housing in more than 70 communities. Today, ABCmouse is available in hundreds of community centers and public housing authorities across 43 states.

Says Age of Learning CEO Doug Dohring, “we couldn’t be more excited about continuing to scale this work going forward!”

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Building on our commitment to the ConnectHome Initiative, we will continue to provide ABCmouse^® Early Learning Academy—which includes over 800 digital books—to all Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) for free. As a partner in the Book-Rich Environments Initiative, we will also be providing a complete set of ABCmouse hardcover children’s books and additional training and family engagement support to participating PHAs.

This partnership is another step towards our goal of making high-quality learning resources available to all children.

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ConnectHome will provide high-speed broadband, technical training, digital literacy programs, and devices for residents in assisted housing units. As a partner in this pilot program, we will make our award-winning ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy curriculum available for free to families living in public housing in 27 cities and one tribal nation, serving up to 65,000 children ages 2–7 each year. ABCmouse.com will be made available on computers and tablets through a wide range of access points, including computer rooms and learning centers in and near public housing facilities.

As Age of Learning CEO Doug Dohring observed, “Our mission is to help all children build a strong foundation for academic success. ConnectHome’s focus on digital learning resources aligns with our goal, and it is a critical step toward improving educational outcomes for children and their families in these communities.”

ConnectHome participation marks another step in Age of Learning’s ongoing effort to make high-quality learning resources available to all children, regardless of their circumstances. Last year, as a participant in the White House’s Invest in US campaign, we made a commitment to provide free access to ABCmouse for Schools^TM in every U.S. preschool, Head Start, pre-k, and kindergarten classroom over the next two years, at a value of more than $10 million. And just last month we expanded our ABCmouse for Libraries^TM initiative, which provides free access to ABCmouse.com at any public library in the country.

For more information about our Education Access Initiatives, including ABCmouse for Schools, ABCmouse for Libraries, and ABCmouse for Community Centers, please visit the Education Access Initiatives page on the Age of Learning website.

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