Case Study: Guadalupe Union School District boosts literacy engagement with Renaissance

CA district expands Renaissance suite to energize academic vision and Gift of Literacy launch

Guadalupe Union School District, a rural Santa Barbara County, California district serving about 1,300 students, faced significant challenges including a 92% poverty rate, a high percentage of English learners, and a history of underperformance. To refresh its academic roadmap and boost literacy, the district partnered with Renaissance and began expanding its Renaissance suite with digital reading and assessment tools.

Renaissance implemented myON Reader, myON News powered by News-O-Matic, Star 360, and Accelerated Reader 360 to increase student engagement and support personalized reading. The Gift of Literacy launch produced immediate results: students logged 3,239 minutes reading before winter break and 1,293 more minutes over the weekend, while average Lexile scores rose by three points. The district also reported 3,697 books read, 18.8k total minutes read, and strong out-of-school reading engagement, showing that Renaissance helped energize readers and strengthen the district’s literacy efforts.

Guadalupe Union School District

Emilio Handall

Superintendent