MyOn, Accelerated Reader & STAR Reading — Renewal Decision Brief

Prepared for: Meeting with Primary & Secondary English Subject Leads Date: 12 May 2026 Data window: 31 Aug 2025 – 30 Mar 2026 (school days only, 7 months) Sources: Blocksi web-filter logs, iSAMS timetable, Renaissance quote #3227335 (ref #736432)

v3 update: Now incorporates the actual Renaissance invoice (£9,209.30 net) and a next-year cohort-shifted enrollment projection for Y3–Y11.

v2 reclassification reminder: STAR usage was always captured but originally bundled under "Accelerated Reader" because both products share Renaissance domains. URL-path classification now separates the three products correctly.

1. The 30-second summary

Metric MyOn STAR Reading AR (RP quizzes)
Active students 252 406 318
Active teachers 18 18 21
Engagement signature 668 reading hours; median 90 min/student 1,336 testing days; median 3 tests/student 11,907 quiz hits; median 3 quiz-days/student
Designed cadence Daily/weekly reading 3× per year (termly diagnostic) After each book read
Match to design? ✅ Yes — 44 % is homework ✅ Exactly on target ✅ Reasonable cadence

Unique students touching any of the three Renaissance / MyOn products: 463.

Headline: ICS is running the textbook integrated workflow: students read on MyOn, take AR practice quizzes to confirm comprehension, and sit a STAR test three times a year to update reading age and target band. Cutting any one breaks the loop.

2. Three products, three jobs

Product What it does How it's used at ICS
MyOn E-library — students pick a book and read on screen 252 readers, 668 hrs total, ~90 min median per student. Used heavily Y3–Y7. 44 % is homework / out-of-lesson.
STAR Reading Computer-adaptive reading assessment (~20 min test) 406 students, 1,336 test sittings, median 3/student = textbook termly cycle. Reach Y3–Y9 ≥86 %. Peak windows: Sep, Dec, Feb.
AR Reading Practice (RP) Short quiz on a specific book (paper or MyOn) to verify reading 318 students, 11,907 quiz attempts (1,394 quiz-days). Strong Y7–Y8 (89–91 %). Most AR quizzes are launched from inside MyOn — confirms the joined-up workflow.

3. Reach by year group (% of pupils who used the product)

Year MyOn STAR AR (quizzes)
Y3 94 % 94 % 83 %
Y4 100 % 98 % 49 %
Y5 100 % 95 % 70 %
Y6 83 % 95 % 48 %
Y7 52 % 100 % 91 %
Y8 14 % 92 % 89 %
Y9 7 % 86 % 61 %
Y10 0 % 33 % 28 %
Y11 0 % 30 % 6 %
Y12+ ~0 % ~0 % ~0 %

Three crisp patterns

  1. STAR has the widest reach — 86–100 % of Y3–Y9 sit the diagnostic. This is the backbone product. Without STAR, AR loses its targeting (no ZPD / book-level data) and MyOn loses its recommendation engine.
  2. MyOn is a Primary platform (Y3–Y6 ≈ 100 %; fades from Y7).
  3. AR Reading Practice surges in Y7–Y8 (89–91 %) — secondary English departments lean on AR for accountability quizzes; primary use is more selective.

4. STAR Reading detail — the assessment that anchors everything

Test cadence by year group

Year Active students Median tests/student Mean Reach %
Y3 44 5 4.8 94 %
Y4 52 4 4.1 98 %
Y5 53 3 2.9 95 %
Y6 40 3 3.6 95 %
Y7 65 3 3.1 100 %
Y8 60 3 3.0 92 %
Y9 49 3 2.8 86 %
Y10 23 3 2.8 33 %
Y11 15 2 2.5 30 %

Y3 is over-testing (median 5) — possibly initial baseline + termly + retesting. Worth confirming with primary leads.

Monthly testing windows

Month Test days Students tested
Sep-25 362 330
Oct-25 98 94
Nov-25 44 41
Dec-25 330 296
Jan-26 48 41
Feb-26 284 256
Mar-26 170 141

Three clear test windows: Sep (baseline), Dec (term-1 review), Feb (term-2 review). Perfectly matches a termly diagnostic schedule.

Top STAR-engaged teachers

Teacher Phase STAR visits Active days
Aoibheann Kinsella Primary 42 8
Maria Sahiby Primary 37 5
Heather Buckley Primary 30 4
Matthew Waddington Primary 26 5
Areen Kishek Secondary 23 4
Amy Urquhart Primary 22 4
Sandi Murdoch Primary 18 2
Theodora Klountzou Secondary 14 3

18 teachers actively view STAR data. Primary leads more on STAR data analysis.

5. Accelerated Reader (Reading Practice) detail

Metric Value
Active student quiz-takers 318
Total RP quiz events 11,907
Distinct quiz-days 1,394
Median quiz-days / student 3
Strongest year groups Y7 (91 %), Y8 (89 %), Y3 (83 %), Y5 (70 %)

Top AR quiz-supervising teachers

Teacher Phase AR-engine visits Active days
Nisreen Abu Eideh Secondary 184 11
Theodora Klountzou Secondary 26 5
Sana Drou Primary 17 4
Maria Sahiby Primary 15 3
Aoibheann Kinsella Primary 8 2

Note: 21 teachers had at least one AR-quiz-engine interaction; the broader AR portal / dashboard is used by ~25 teachers (see earlier teacher table).

6. MyOn detail (unchanged from v1)

Metric Value
Active students 252
Total reading hours 668
Median minutes / student 90
% of usage as homework 44 %
Heaviest readers Y3 (median 201 min), Y5 (157 min), Y4 (82 min)
Top individual reader Year 7 student, 26 hours of MyOn reading

7 teachers actively use MyOn (Sana Drou, Stevie Greene, Sandi Murdoch, Matthew Waddington, Heather Buckley, Amy Urquhart, Keir Dowswell).

7. Cost analysis (from Renaissance Quote #3227335)

Line item Period Seats Unit £ Total £
myON by Renaissance 01 Nov 2025 – 31 May 2026 (7 months) 240 5.10 1,224.00
myON 5,000 American English Titles same 240 0.00 0.00 (incl.)
Accelerated Reader Literacy 01 Jun 2025 – 31 May 2026 (12 months) 440 8.75 3,850.00
Star Reading 01 Jun 2025 – 31 May 2026 (12 months) 440 10.50 4,620.00
Subtotal 9,694.00
5 % multi-year discount (484.70)
Grand Total (excl. VAT) £9,209.30 (≈ $11,500)

Pre-discount the bill is £9,694 ≈ $12,118 USD — which matches your "over $12,000" recollection.

Two anomalies worth noting

  1. MyOn is a 7-month subscription, not 12 months. Annualised at the same per-seat rate, MyOn would cost £2,098. Any like-for-like next-year comparison should annualise this.
  2. MyOn has 240 licences but 252 actual users — 105 % of capacity. Either the licence is permissive (shared device logins) or a handful of students are sharing accounts. If next year we want stable access, MyOn should be sized to ≥ 252 seats.

Cost per active student

Product Cost (this year) Active users Cost / active student
MyOn (7-month) £1,224 252 £4.86 (7-mo) / £8.34 annualised
Accelerated Reader (12-mo) £3,850 302 quiz-takers £12.75
STAR Reading (12-mo) £4,620 406 £11.38
Whole bundle £9,209 430 (any product) £21.42

Cost per engagement event — the real ROI signal

Metric Value
MyOn — £1.83 per estimated hour of reading 668 hours total
STAR — £3.46 per test sitting 1,336 test days
AR — £0.32 per quiz event (or £2.76 per quiz-day) 11,907 quiz events

MyOn is the cheapest engagement per active hour. AR delivers the highest event volume per £. STAR is the most expensive seat but it's the assessment that anchors both other products.

Where each product's £ is not being spent (licence slack)

Product Seats Active Slack Slack £
MyOn 240 252 −5 % (over) —
AR 440 302 138 unused £1,207
STAR 440 406 34 unused £357

AR has £1,200 of unused licences at current sizing — biggest right-sizing opportunity.

7a. Projected next-year usage (Y3–Y11) — official admissions numbers + 5/yr buffer

Source: admissions-provided projected enrollment for 2026–27 + +5 students per year group as variance buffer. Reach % at each year level held constant from this year's observed pattern.

Year Admissions + buffer Projected MyOn Projected STAR Projected AR
Y3 43 48 45 45 40
Y4 39 44 44 43 22
Y5 52 57 57 54 40
Y6 56 61 51 58 29
Y7 38 43 22 43 39
Y8 56 61 8 56 54
Y9 56 61 4 52 37
Y10 50 55 0 18 15
Y11 56 61 0 18 4
Total Y3–11 446 491 231 387 280

Roster (with buffer) drops from this year's 504 to 491 — a 13-student dip. Projected users: MyOn 231 (vs 235 this year), STAR 387 (vs 401), AR 280 (vs 298).

Y12 (48) and Y13 (50) are outside the target band — neither product has meaningful reach beyond Y11.

7b. Renewal cost scenarios (GBP)

All scenarios assume same unit prices, MyOn moves to a full 12-month subscription, +10 % headroom on each seat count, and a 5 % multi-year discount.

Scenario MyOn seats AR seats STAR seats After 5 % ≈ USD
A. Same seats (240/440/440) — MyOn 12-mo 240 440 440 £10,040 $12,550
B. Right-size to projection (+10 % headroom) 255 308 426 £8,928 $11,160
C. MyOn Primary only; AR/STAR projected 217 308 426 £8,612 $10,765
D. AR for Y3–Y9 only; MyOn & STAR projected 255 288 426 £8,761 $10,951
E. Drop MyOn entirely; AR + STAR right-sized 0 308 426 £6,810 $8,512

Savings vs status quo (Scenario A = baseline £10,040)

Scenario Saving vs A What you lose
B. Right-size £1,112 Nothing — same products, fewer unused licences
C. MyOn Primary only £1,428 Y7 MyOn (~22 projected readers)
D. AR Y3–9 only £1,279 KS4 AR (~19 projected Y10–11 quiz-takers)
E. Drop MyOn £3,230 231 readers, ~600 hrs of reading, the home-reading channel

Recommended discussion sequence at the meeting: 1. Agree the bundle works (data clearly supports it). 2. Default to Scenario B (£1,100 saving with no loss of function) as the starting point. 3. Ask leads: Is keeping MyOn in Secondary worth £316/year? → if no, go to C. 4. Ask leads: Is keeping AR in KS4 worth £167/year for ~19 students? → if no, layer that on.

8. Risks / things to verify

  1. The three products are an integrated workflow. Path data shows AR quizzes are launched from within MyOn (vendor=myon&...quiztype=rp). Cutting MyOn doesn't just lose reading — it breaks the path students currently use to reach their AR quizzes.
  2. STAR is the backbone. Without STAR, AR can't set quiz targets and MyOn can't recommend books at the right reading age. STAR's reach (86–100 % Y3–Y9) makes it the broadest-used of the three.
  3. MyOn at Secondary is thin. Only Y7 (52 %) shows meaningful MyOn use; Y8–Y9 are essentially zero. If Secondary plans no MyOn next year, you may be paying for unused Secondary licences.
  4. AR Reading Practice in KS4 is tailing off (Y10 = 28 %, Y11 = 6 %). The 23–15 students still using STAR in those years are not converting to AR quizzes.
  5. Y3 STAR over-testing (median 5 tests/student) — confirm with primary leads whether this matches an intentional intervention model.

9. Decision options — see Section 7b above

Cost-quantified options are in Section 7b. In summary:

The data does not support cutting the bundle outright — all three products are in active, design-aligned use. The conversation should be about right-sizing seats and trimming at the edges (Secondary MyOn, KS4 AR), with KPIs attached to justify the renewal.

10. Discussion prompts for the leads

Supporting files (in output/myon_ar_renewal/)

Methodology: Renaissance traffic split into STAR / AR / shared-portal using URL-path markers (/star-student-discovery/*, /cat-activity-player/star/* for STAR; /cat-activity-player/ar/*, takequiz?...quiztype=RP, /recordbook/ar/*, /sdp/more-books for AR). Filter rules: school days only; blocked attempts and infrastructure traffic excluded.