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Hello. This presentation will review achievement gains made at the Bulloch County Schools in Georgia after students used the Fast ForWord® products. This was an independent study conducted by Dr. Jody Woodrum, an Assistant Superintendent at the district.
The Bulloch County Schools started using the Fast ForWord products at selected schools during the 2007-2008 school year. The district’s focus was on students close to proficiency in reading or language arts. In the fall of 2009, the Langston Chapel Middle School expanded its implementation to all sixth graders, regardless of ability level. This summary is about these sixth graders.
The students in this study used various Fast ForWord products, including the Fast ForWord Literacy, Fast ForWord Literacy Advanced, Fast ForWord Reading Prep, and Fast ForWord Reading Level 1 – 5 products. The participating school’s Fast ForWord Participation and Attendance were routinely considered “Gold Cap,” which is a high standard to strive for and shows that the school was adhering to the protocol.
Study participants were evaluated using the Measures of Academic Progress, abbreviated as MAP. Developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), the MAP are state-aligned, computerized adaptive tests that accurately reflect the instructional level of each student and measure growth over time. The MAP are appropriate for students in grades 2 through 10 and are available to evaluate student achievement in a variety of subject areas including reading, language arts, math, and science.
The MAP uses a measure of improvement called the Growth National Percentile Rank, which is a percentile rank of growth relative to “academic peers” – students in similar grades and at similar achievement levels. On average, Fast ForWord participants made gains on the MAP, and for students who made gains, the gains were very large, corresponding to high Growth National Percentile Ranks. The next two graphs look at the Reading and English Language Arts results more closely.
Overall, 64% of participants from both groups of students – on and above grade level, and below grade level – increased their percentile rank on the Reading portion of the MAP. For the students who made gains, the gains corresponded to the 98th percentile, which is considered very large and exceeded the expected improvement on the Reading component.
On the English Language Arts component of the MAP, 77% of participants made gains. Once again, the improvement of both groups of Fast ForWord participants exceeded the expected improvement and the gains that were achieved were substantial – at the 99th percentile.
Analyses by the staff at Bulloch County indicated that high gains were seen regardless of the students’ prior achievement levels, and regardless of the highest Fast ForWord product completed.
Thank you for your time. This video was a brief summary of the rigorous study from Bulloch County. For further detail, please reference Dr. Woodrum’s full report on the Scientific Learning website at www.scientificlearning.com/woodrum.
Related Reading:
60% of Middle and High School Learners Exceed FCAT Annual Learning Gain Expectations
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Categories: Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning
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This post is the eighth in a series aimed at sharing the success stories, both personal and professional, that Scientific Learning employees witness every day.
“I think one of the reasons that this job has been so different from my other jobs as a classroom teacher or working in print has been my journey as I have grown to understand the Scientific Learning programs and how effective they are.
The one student that I can call to mind very vividly is Danielle. She was a 3rd grader and she had just recently qualified for special services. Her district was having her use the [Fast ForWord] program over the summer.
I had the chance to visit her and her district representative as she was going through the programs. She was having some real attentional problems and was also having difficulties in reading. She was really excited about going through the program and by the end of the summer she had really grown so much that when she went back to school in the fall, she actually tested out of her special education label.
I was invited to attend the [Admission, Review, and Dismissal] Meeting and it was amazing to see her teachers look at the data and say ‘Wow - this happened over the summer!’ They were really in awe and, at first, disbelief. They then realized she was able to focus, pay attention and be successful at the tasks she had to do at school. She was able to be much more independent and be successful on her own.”
Related Reading:
Corey’s Story: My Son No Longer Needs Intervention After Using Fast ForWord
Sara’s Story: From 6 Months Behind in Reading to the Accelerated Reading Class
Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!
Categories: Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Special Education

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been two years since Dr. Bill Jenkins, Dr. Martha Burns, Sherrelle Walker, and a host of staff bloggers launched the Science of Learning blog. In those two years we’ve learned a lot and had a ton of fun while creating posts we hoped you would find valuable.
In honor of the occasion, we’d like to share some of our readers’ favorite blog posts to date. Here are just a few of the posts that readers have told us they’ve liked best:
Kathy recommends: How Learning to Read Improves Brain Function
“As an adult literacy tutor, I was fascinated to read Stanislaus Dehaene's research showing that students who don't learn to read may experience severe difficulties with other forms of instruction as a result. This underscores the critical importance of funding such programs as Second Start Adult Literacy in Oakland, a city with a high level of adult illiteracy. And, fact-based research like this gives us a more powerful defense than emotion-based anecdotes, as we fight to protect city and state literacy funding. Thank you, Scientific Learning!”
Jennifer recommends two posts:
The Question Formulation Technique: 6 Steps to Help Students Ask Better Questions
“In a learning environment that tends increasingly towards 'teaching to the test,' our nation’s students are losing the skills crucial to a lifetime of knowledge acquisition. Without good questions we cannot find good answers, good solutions, or grow good thinkers. This article outlines a tested method for teaching children how to go about formulating a complex and well thought out question.”
School Gardens: Sowing the Seeds of Experiential Learning
“School gardens are an invaluable interdisciplinary learning tool that gets students out of the classroom and allows them to use classroom knowledge in a real world scenario. A school garden acts as a place to learn, test out theories, and acquire life skills, as well as providing a space of beauty and an object of school pride. In my time as a garden educator, I found the bounty of opportunity to teach in the garden near limitless, and believe that all children should have the opportunity to see what they can discover in the garden.”
Teresa recommends two posts:
The Magical Combination of Love and Limits: Tips for Teaching Positive Behavior and Kindergarten Math Readiness and the Cardinal Principle
“All of the blogs have good information for parents, educators and caregivers, but the one I like the most is the one about love and limits. I think this post is applicable to all children. The math readiness post is a close second, as I did not know about the "cardinal principle." If more parents knew about the information in the love and limits article, we would have happier and more well-adjusted children.”
Linda recommends: Bringing Learning to Life in the Classroom: Technology for 21st Century Schools
“I've got my backpack ready to take a 3-D field trip in learning! This mode of education sounds incredibly exciting for students. The sky will be the limit for learners who become engaged in this technology. Thank you Scientific Learning from a retired Maine Elementary School Counselor!”
Thanks so much for your readership and feedback. We are already hard at work on more high quality posts for the new year, and are looking forward to sharing them with you.
Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!
Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Family Focus, Reading & Learning

Blended learning, the combination of independent online learning with supervised brick and mortar programs, is on the rise. While there were 2.94 million students participating in a hybrid learning program in 2010, it is expected that the number will be 10.07 million by 2015.
This growth pattern surpasses homeschooling, virtual schools and online charter schools. Schools employing these methods believe that students are more engaged with a 24/7 access model and have seen improvement in both district achievement and graduation rates. It does require a culture shift that includes a strong emphasis on trust, but there are many benefits.
Through a blended learning program, educators can move beyond the “one teacher, one textbook model” of education in a host of ways, including:
The trend toward blended learning within a district often begins in a specific school or grade level. For example, some districts start using blended learning strategies with their alternative education program, as the students are monitored by teachers at the alternative school but are supported by their general education teacher’s instruction, which can be delivered virtually. Others have found it makes sense to prepare students taking AP classes by providing virtual summer reading groups that include discussions and self-assessments in pre-class learning.
As blended learning takes hold with the starting group, the enthusiasm often quickly spreads when teachers see the opportunities for stronger student engagement and enhanced learning. Some districts also have found it helpful to implement online professional development programs as another way to help teachers gain acceptance and make the transition to blended learning.
Teachers can build powerful learning systems over time by adding online components to their classes. Starting gradually allows teachers to learn at their own pace and gives them a better understanding of what is needed on the teacher’s side to make blended and online learning more successful for students. A simple way to begin is with a blogging program, posting stimulating questions to foster student discussion, then guiding students in ways to respond appropriately to their peers in writing. Once the initial tools and processes are mastered by teachers and students, teachers can expand the initiative by asking students to turn assignments in electronically, encouraging students to participate in discussion boards or providing online quizzes that are self-graded.
Incorporating a virtual option into their classroom model enables teachers to more easily and effectively communicate with parents, collaborate district-wide via online communities and distribute curriculum materials. When curriculum maps are loaded into the district learning platform, students, parents and teachers can see where they are in the curriculum, and where they should be, at any given point in time.
The addition of virtual learning options can also solve pacing disparities that are more difficult to address in standard classrooms, such as providing more rigorous programs and college courses (engineering and biomedical classes, etc.) for advanced students. Similarly, students in need of credit recovery can be grouped in virtual learning programs that help them catch up and move forward, rather than re-teaching in the traditional environment.
Transitioning to a blended learning model is not about spending more, but about reallocating resources, changing mindsets and creating a paradigm shift within an existing culture. Most importantly, though, it’s about doing what is right for kids. The world they live in is fast, flexible, and online, and their schools should be, too.
References
Blended Learning Strategies for K-12 Leaders
Hybrid Learning Pushes Personalization Forward
Related Reading:
The Trend to Blend: The Debate Over Online and Blended Learning
Individualizing Instruction Through Understanding Different Types of Learners
Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!
Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning
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The Grand Forks Public Schools in Grand Forks, ND, wanted to evaluate the effects of the Fast ForWord® products on the academic achievement of their students. A study was designed such that students at one elementary school used the Fast ForWord products and comparable students at a different elementary school served as the comparison group. Both elementary schools fed into the same middle school and the study participants were in the fifth grade at the time of Fast ForWord use.
Students used the 30-minute protocols, which call for students to use the Fast ForWord products for 30 minutes a day, five days per week for 12 to 16 weeks. Students used the products for an average of 132 days across 11 months.
The Measures of Academic Progress, abbreviated as MAP, are state-aligned computerized adaptive tests, administered by the district each spring. They accurately reflect the instructional level of each student and measure growth over time. The Grand Forks Public School District uses the MAP to assess students in third through eighth grades.
A comparison of the fifth graders at the two elementary schools showed that students at the school using FastForWord products made significantly greater improvements in all areas tested compared to the students at the school that did not use the products. The areas tested were reading, language, and math, with the study results demonstrating that the products can positively impact achievement across multiple subject areas.
Related Reading:
Longitudinal Study Shows Significant Fast ForWord® Gains Endure Over Time
Students Exceed State Average on TAKS after Fast ForWord, Maintain Gains
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Categories: Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Scientific Learning Research

Learning is both a behavioral and biological process that is supported by the neurons in the brain over time.
When we learn, our brain cells physically change in response to stimulation, forming pathways to facilitate the connections we use repeatedly. For example, if you meet a person only once, you might not remember their name or recognize their face if you were to run into them on the street ten years on. On the other hand, if you see that person every day for a year, you will likely be able to recognize their face and remember their name much more readily should you not see that person for a long period of time.
Learning processes like these in the brain take predictable, measured amounts of time. While these rates will vary from person to person and nervous system to nervous system, we can depend upon certain relatively constant timeframes for learning and processing an understanding of some of these timeframes can allow educators to take maximum advantage of them. That’s why the Fast ForWord® products function on each of these scales by design, using the power of optimal timing to improve the brain’s ability to learn.
Learning depends upon a specific feedback loop characterized by timing between stimulus, response and reward [i]. Here are some of those timescales, along with how Fast ForWord works within each:
In the classroom, having an awareness of how long it takes for a student to assimilate and process certain kinds of information can add an entirely different rhythm to our instruction. In having such an understanding of how the brains of our students work, we can time our teaching to optimize learning and help our students achieve maximum success.
References:
[i] Why Time Matters Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center. University of California San Diego
Related Reading:
The Brain Gets Better at What it Does: Dr. Martha Burns on Brain Plasticity
Video Games: A New Perspective on Learning Content and Skills
Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!
Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Reading & Learning
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This post is the seventh in a series aimed at sharing the success stories, both personal and professional, that Scientific Learning employees witness every day.
“My son personally was identified in kindergarten as a struggling learner. He is a July baby and he started kindergarten at a very young age five. Right away, red flags were going up for the teacher. Emotionally, academically, developmentally, we realized that he might not have been ready to acquire the skills that were being taught in the kindergarten classroom.
We worked really hard over the summer to put Zack through [Fast ForWord] Language Basics and [Fast ForWord] Reading Prep*. These products are really appropriate for a kindergarten-aged learner.
When he returned to school in the fall and he was re-assessed for intervention, the teacher made a comment: ‘I don’t know what you’ve done with Zack over the summer, but his scores are now above where he needs to be and we no longer will need to provide him with any intervention support. We are just going to continue to monitor him and watch and make sure he continues to grow along the right pathway.’
It brought tears to my eyes knowing that we continued to do the right things and the only one variable that changed was using Fast ForWord with him. It built his confidence and built his self-esteem.”
*Note: Fast ForWord® Language Basics and Reading Prep are no longer available. Current Fast ForWord products for kindergarten-aged learners include Fast ForWord Language and Reading Readiness.
Related Reading:
Sara’s Story: From 6 Months Behind In Reading to the Accelerated Reading Class
Joel’s Story: My Nephew’s Reading Skills Improved 1.5 Years in 3 Months with Fast ForWord
Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!
Categories: Family Focus, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning
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This post is the sixth in a series aimed at sharing the success stories, both personal and professional, that Scientific Learning employees witness every day.
Sara’s story:
"I was a Fast ForWord coach before I came to work for Scientific Learning and I absolutely loved the program, which is one of the reasons that I came to work here.
I have one story about a young man who was in first grade and was struggling a little bit with reading. He was about sixth months behind by the time he got through first grade and his mom recognized that immediately. She had always read to him, but there was just something he was missing and she couldn’t figure it out.
She came and talked to me one day and asked about the Fast ForWord program. We had just started working with the kids at school and I said, 'Put him in. We’ll see how he does.' He finished Fast ForWord Language and when back to the regular classroom, within two months he tested again with a reading test in his classroom and he was up to grade level, which was excellent. We were so excited and he was excited because school was easier.
The next year when he came back, he was a second grader. His mom said, 'I want him to do Fast ForWord again because I want him to stay with the rest of the class or even go a little bit above it.' He worked really hard, got through another two programs, finished for that year and the next year when he came back in for third grade, he tested into the gifted class.
Now this young man is a fifth grader and he’s been in the accelerated reading class ever since."
Related Reading:
Joel’s Story: My Nephew’s Reading Skills Improved 1½ Years in 3 Months with Fast ForWord
My Son Announced He Was Dropping Out of High School: Mary’s Story
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Categories: Brain Fitness, Family Focus, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning

Think back to your grade school days. Did you ever experience a class where a bully ruled the roost? Were you ever bullied yourself? Did you ever have a teacher who frightened you or who made you feel bad for underperforming? Or was there simply a disruptive class clown who constantly broke the classroom rhythm the teacher was trying so hard to create?
To varying degrees, all of the above situations can create what we might consider an unsafe learning environment. The teacher must take unquestionable ownership of the classroom, but do so in a positive, caring, constructive manner. The class succeeds or fails on his or her decisions and management of the entire learning experience.
Why is managing that classroom and creating that safe environment where learning can happen so essential? In her article on the value of safe learning environments, Lora Desautels, Ph.D., reminds us that during adolescence, the part of the brain that controls emotional responses—the amygdala—develops faster than other centers of the brain while the prefrontal cortex, a center for logical thought and rational response, develops later. Thus, our students are more effectively wired for emotion than logic. Their systems are primed to react to situations with feelings and they have not yet fully developed the ability to apply logical thinking to keep those feelings in check.
It follows that the stimuli within and surrounding the learning environment can have great effects on these emotional responses and can serve to either support or impair the learning process. The bully, the clown, and the teacher can all have a profound effect on how well a student learns.
So what can we as educators do to bring down the levels of stress in our classrooms and make sure that our learning environments are safe places where optimal learning can take place? How can we create spaces that keep the emotional responses as positive and free of stress and anxiety as possible so that we can most effectively engage fresh young minds?
Rebecca Alber has written a wonderful list of twenty ways to create a safe learning environment for Edutopia, which I highly recommend. Her advice for educators includes building community, setting clear boundaries, smiling and laughing a lot, and getting to know each individual student, as well as allowing them to get to know something personal about you. She says we should sit with our students. We should keep our expectations for student performance and behavior high. And we should incorporate art and music into the day.
I agree with Alber’s top twenty. I find it wonderful that she strikes a balance between creating a space that is fun and welcoming and full of laughter, but also one where expectations are set and failures become learning opportunities. All of them can do wonders when it comes to creating a space where students can let go of their stresses and anxieties and free their minds to absorb all the wonderful learning we have in store for them.
In the end, the responsibility for implementing these kinds of principles and removing the stressors that can impair learning lie with us, the educators. Creating that safe learning environment is a multifaceted challenge that, when done well, allows students to flourish.
Related Reading:
Tapping the Source: Finding and Using the Innate Student Passion for Learning
Inspiring Students to Dream, Learn and Grow
Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!
Categories: Brain Research, Education Trends, Reading & Learning
This year’s annual customer conference, Virtual Circle of Learning 2011, took place online last Friday with over 800 registrants. The keynote speakers—Eric Jensen, Dr. Martha Burns, and Andrew Ostarello—addressed opportunities for customers to maximize the impact of their implementations of Scientific Learning products.
Much of the content from these keynotes can be seen in our Twitter stream with the hashtag #VCOL11, as we live-tweeted the keynote sessions and linked to articles relevant to each speaker’s presentation.

The articles provide further reading on increasing student motivation and engagement, maximizing the results of using Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant products, and more:
Customers who missed a keynote or breakout session can watch it on Customer Connect (customer login required). Feel free to share the link with others at your school who were not able to attend.
Also, be sure to complete your survey to let us know what you enjoyed and what we can improve for next year. And, if you have an iPad, be sure to include your iTunes email address so we can give you our new iPad app, Eddy’s Number Party!
And now, off to start planning for Virtual Circle of Learning 2012!
Related Reading:
Building Fluent Readers: How Oral Reading Practice Helps Reading Comprehension
How Learning to Read Improves Brain Function
Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!
Categories: Education Trends, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Reading Assistant