Used by Over 4 Million Kids Annually, Capstone’s PebbleGo Now Delivers Equitable Access for All Students

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – August 20, 2019 – Capstone, innovative publisher of children’s educational content for schools and home, announces substantial enhancements to its award-winning PebbleGo™ database used in over 20% of U.S. elementary schools. PebbleGo’s transformation aligns with Capstone’s commitment to inclusivity, equity, and accessibility for all students. Among the improvements include compliance with Section 508 standards (U.S. Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973) and WCAG 2.1 AA (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), ensuring PebbleGo is accessible to children with vision, cognitive, physical, and hearing disabilities.

New accessibility features include:
    o Simple, intuitive, and predictable navigation
    o Text-to-Speech on all articles
    o Transcripts for all videos
    o Alternative text and descriptive titles for meaningful images
    o Screen reader support
    o Access keys for keyboard-only navigation
    o Color contrast design to support students with color-blindness and low vision

PebbleGo is now also mobile-responsive, improving student’s experience through intuitive touchscreen navigation and providing at-home and on-the-go access on smartphones, tablets, and computers to support school-to-home programs, independent learning and English language learners.

“We’re energized to re-launch PebbleGo at the start of a new school year. By focusing on accessibility, we have made it easier for children with a disability to use PebbleGo for their research projects, independent reading, and other learning opportunities. These improvements, along with the modern user interface, means we have a completely new student resource with 10-years of experience behind it. Lastly, PebbleGo works beautifully on a mobile device, enhancing the experience for all students and improving the school-to-home connection,” said Darin Rasmussen, VP of Digital Product Development.

All PebbleGo modules include text written for the needs of K-3 learners, fully narrated by professional voice-over artists to provide essential scaffolds for emerging and struggling readers and English language learners. PebbleGo uses a streamlined interface, animated highlighting, educational videos, and encompassing activities which teach students how to cite articles, create reports, and share what they’ve learned. PebbleGo has over 1.7 billion page views which equates to every K-3 student in the United States reading 7 articles. More than 4 million students use PebbleGo each year.

About Capstone
Capstone is a leading content creator for digital solutions, children’s books, and literacy programs for school libraries, classrooms, and at home reading including the award-winning PebbleGo research database. www.CapstonePub.com #ReadingIsForEveryone