MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – August 25, 2020 – Capstone, innovative publisher of children’s educational content for schools and home, announces significant improvements to its PebbleGo™ Next curriculum-connected database for students in grades 3-5. Among the enhancements include compliance with Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 AA standards, ensuring PebbleGo Next is accessible to children with vision, cognitive, physical, and hearing disabilities.

Accessibility features include:

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

With a new, connected PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next experience, it’s now easier for students to find nonfiction content at the appropriate reading and interest levels. PebbleGo Next 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 and independent learning.

“PebbleGo Next is a great companion to PebbleGo, so it’s been incredibly important to make this resource accessible for all children, especially those with a disability. Because this school year will be so different from any other we’ve experienced, we hope educators will find its ease-of-use and mobile-readiness especially valuable for distance learning and the school-to-home connection,” said Darin Rasmussen, VP of Digital Product Development.

PebbleGo Next is the ideal accompaniment to schools’ PebbleGo subscription, offering grades 3-5 students with hundreds of state and national curriculum-connected articles in: Biographies, Science, Social Studies, American Indian History and U.S. States. All PebbleGo Next modules include expertly levelled text with authentic read-aloud audio to provide essential scaffolds to make content accessible for all learners. PebbleGo Next incorporates a streamlined interface, animated highlighting, educational videos and games, and encompassing activities that teach students how to cite articles, create reports, and share what they’ve learned to encourage reflection and connection. The database is available over the Internet 24/7 as an annual subscription for enrolled students.

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