Language Skills Increase 1.8 Years After 30 Days Using Fast ForWord

• August 25, 2011 by Andrew Ostarello

This study is a randomized controlled trial that investigated the impact of Fast ForWord Language software in 9 elementary schools.  The analyses that follow include data from 452 students in grades K through 5. 

Students were randomly assigned to be in either the Fast ForWord group or the control group.  The randomization was stratified within age and gender.

Students using Fast ForWord trained for 100 minutes per day for an average of 30 school days.  Both groups were evaluated using three assessments:

• Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language
• Phonological Awareness Test
• Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Education Battery

The average gains from pre-test to post-test were larger for Fast ForWord participants than for the control group for both Language Comprehension and Phonological Isolation.  Both of these results were statistically significant.

In addition, a large subset of students in this study were English Language Learners.  A total of 85 students did not speak English as their primary language – 53 of whom used Fast ForWord, while 32 served as controls.  The results for English Language Learners were consistent with those for native English speakers.  Both of these results were statistically significant.

In conclusion, Fast ForWord participation led to significantly larger improvements than the control group in a variety of early language skills. 

The vast majority of students made learning gains; these students averaged 1.8 years of language improvement in only 30 school days.

These results are consistent for both ELL students and for native English speakers.

Finally, note that this study was conducted on the original version of Fast ForWord Language.  Since publication of this study in 2004, a new and enhanced version of Fast ForWord Language has been released (Fast ForWord Language version 2).

Related Reading:

Forecasting ROI from Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ Products

Reading in the Real World

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Categories: English Language Learners, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, elementary school learning, increased test scores, language learning, literacy, phonological awareness, technology in education, video

Implementation Fidelity: Maximizing Your Fast ForWord^® or Reading Assistant™ Investment

• August 11, 2011 by Andrew Ostarello

What is Implementation Fidelity? It is Scientific Learning’s measure of how well Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant users are following product usage protocols.

In order to maximize a student’s benefit from Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant, users need to have an intensive and persistent experience.  This means using the products regularly and according to protocol.  The available Fast ForWord protocols are five days a week for 30, 40, 50, or 90 minutes per day.  For Reading Assistant, the protocols are 20, 30, or 40 minutes per day (depending on the grade band) for three days per week.  Adherence to these protocols helps students build on their daily successes.

This leads naturally to the following question:  How do you know if a student is having an intensive and persistent Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant experience?

Our answer is a concept called Implementation Fidelity.  Implementation Fidelity measures how closely users of Scientific Learning products are adhering to the recommended usage protocols.

There are three components to Implementation Fidelity:

• Completion Rate
• Attendance
• Participation

Each of these components can be measured at the individual student, classroom, or district level.

Implementation Fidelity components are measured on a scale from 0 to 100%.  Scores in the top 20% are considered “Good,” scores in the middle 60% are considered “Fair,” and the remaining scores in the bottom 20% are considered “Poor.”

Scientific Learning Progress Tracker is an online tool to monitor and manage Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant success.

Progress Tracker has reports to help customers track the Implementation Fidelity of their students.  For example, one Implementation Fidelity report shows the overall Completion Rate, Attendance, and Participation categories for a district as a whole and for each school in that district.

We have found that a good implementation, on average, leads to 50% more reading gain per year.

Related Reading:

Forecasting ROI from Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ Products

Making Computerized Learning Work Takes WORK

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Categories: Fast ForWord, Progress Tracker, Reading & Learning, Reading Assistant, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, child reading development, improving reading skills, learning to read, motivating students, reading intervention, school leader effectiveness, student growth, technology in education, video

Student Reading Improvement Nearly Doubles In Just 24 Days

• June 28, 2011 by Andrew Ostarello

This video summarizes a study of Fast ForWord Reading 1—the first product in Scientific Learning’s Fast ForWord Reading Series.

The study is a randomized controlled trial that investigated the impact of Fast ForWord Reading 1 in three elementary schools.  The analyses that follow include data from 208 students in 1^st and 2^nd grade.

Students were randomly assigned to be in either the Fast ForWord group or the control group.  The randomization was stratified within grade.

Students using Fast ForWord trained for 48 minutes per day for an average of 24 school days.  Both groups were evaluated using the Test of Phonological Awareness, or the “TOPA” for short. 

There were two subtests: one for Phonological Awareness, and one for Letter-Sounds.

For each subtest, the Fast ForWord participants showed greater gains between pre-test and post-test than the control group.  These differences were both statistically significant.

In conclusion, Fast ForWord participation led to significantly larger improvements than the control group in both the Phonological Awareness and Letter Sounds subtests.

In both cases, the magnitude of the gains was about double for Fast ForWord participants: 12.8 points versus 6.9 for Phonological Awareness, and 5.5 versus 1.9 points for Letter Sounds.

Related Reading:

Fast ForWord Featured on ABC 7 News

After Just 24 Days, Summer School Students Significantly Improve Reading Scores

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Categories: Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, child reading development, elementary school learning, how children learn, improving reading skills, increased test scores, learning to read, phonemic awareness, phonics, phonological awareness, student growth, student reading improvement, technology in education, TOPA, video

Forecasting ROI from Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ Products

• June 21, 2011 by Andrew Ostarello

Return on Investment, or “ROI” is a straightforward concept.  With educational interventions, we invest something (typically time, money, or energy) and receive some benefit. 

The primary benefit of investing time, money, and energy in Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ products is increased student achievement.  This benefit has always been a focus for Scientific Learning.   However, in our discussions with customers, we realized that many district stakeholders had a parallel benefit that they are concerned with: the financial impact on their district as a whole.  We decided to see if we could address and quantify this parallel (and perhaps complementary) view of ROI.

We identified four areas where data suggest that implementation of Scientific Learning products can impact a district’s financial costs:

• Reduction of the high school dropout rate
• Reduction of referrals to special education
• Reduction of the number of students who require ELL services
• Reduction of the number of students classified as “struggling readers”

Here’s an example of how we tried to quantify one of these benefits.  A district in Swartz Creek, Michigan observed a 30% drop year-over-year in special education referrals after implementing Fast ForWord products with their students. To be safe, we chose a very statistically conservative estimate for the reduction a new customer might expect to see in their special education referral rates: 21.2%.  Technically, we got this by looking at the lower bound of a 95% confidence interval for the effect based on the Swartz Creek data.  

These estimates led to the creation of Scientific Learning’s Return on Investment Tool.  The tool estimates the ROI—that is, the true financial cost—of using Scientific Learning products over a three year horizon.  This includes the initial software purchase and three years of product support. Note that we often see ROIs greater than 100% (i.e. a net financial benefit) for medium to large implementations with lots of students.

If we take a look at a three-year ROI for a large implementation, in year one the costs exceed the financial benefits, but in subsequent years the products more than pay for themselves.  Actual estimates will depend greatly on the individual district and the scope of the implementation. 

To get an ROI estimate for your school or district, contact us.

Related Reading:

Over 45% Relative Improvement in Students Reaching Proficiency

79% of ELL Students Increase Proficiency by One or More Levels

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Categories: Education Trends, English Language Learners, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Reading Assistant, Scientific Learning Research, Special Education

Tags: high school learning, increased test scores, investing in innovation, school leader effectiveness, struggling readers, student growth, technology in education, video

68% of Students Improve MEPA Proficiency Significantly after Fast ForWord®

• May 12, 2011 by Andrew Ostarello

This study looked at 118 English Language Learner students who used Fast ForWord® products in the 2009-2010 school year from Everett Public Schools in Everett, MA.  A small minority of the students also used the Fast ForWord products in the previous 2008-2009 school year.

These students were tested in both 2009 and 2010 with the Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment, or the “MEPA” for short.  The impact of Fast ForWord products was dramatic and positive.  Following Fast ForWord participation, students averaged about 15 and a half scaled score points of improvement between 2009 and 2010.  

In addition, no student scored at proficiency level 1 (the lowest proficiency level) after using Fast ForWord products.  On the other end of the spectrum, the number of students in the top two proficiency levels (levels 4 and 5) more than doubled, from 33 to 74 students. 

Finally, 68% of participants improved one or more proficiency levels; 26% maintained the same proficiency level they had in 2009; while only 6% dropped a level.  This shift is statistically significant.

Related Reading:

Unlocking the Potential of English Language Learners

Scientific Learning Around the World

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Categories: English Language Learners, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, improving reading skills, increased test scores, language learning, literacy, reading test gains, student reading growth, technology in education

Test Scores Exceed State Average in 4 Subject Areas After Fast ForWord

• February 15, 2011 by Andrew Ostarello

St. Mary Parish began using Fast ForWord products in the 2006-2007 school year with eight elementary schools.  Over the next few years they continually expanded until they had a full district implementation by 2009-2010.  Overall, Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant products were used by almost 6,000 St. Mary Parish students by 2010.

This study investigates the changes during that time to the district’s performance on the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, or LEAP for short.  This test is given to 4^th and 8^th grade students.  The following analyses consider four main subtests: English/Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and Science.

After implementing Fast ForWord products, the St. Mary 4^th grade passing rate for ELA converged upon, and then exceeded the state average.  After Fast ForWord was introduced, the percentage of the district’s students passing the LEAP Math test increased dramatically.  The 4^th grade Science test exhibits the same trend as does the 4^th grade Social Studies test.

The gap in passing rates between black and white students has also been reduced for both the elementary English and elementary Math LEAP tests.  There has also been a longitudinal increase in the percentage of 4^th graders meeting the overall promotion standard since Fast ForWord products were introduced - from 65% in 2006 to 85% in 2010. 

Following Fast ForWord implementation, district LEAP performance approached and then exceeded the state average in all four subjects.  The performance gap between black and white students closed significantly.  And finally, the 4th grade promotion rates steadily increased.

For more information, please see the Educator Briefing on this study as well as any of our 200+ additional reports on Fast ForWord software results. If you have questions about any of our research studies, please contact us.

Related Reading:

Can Scientific Learning Products Improve School Test Scores?

Over 45% Relative Improvement in Students Reaching Proficiency

Dr. Donald Aguillard: Improving Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) Scores in St. Mary Parish Schools

 

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Reading Assistant, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, achievement gap, assessments, brain training, child reading development, elementary learning, elementary school learning, how children learn, improve test scores, improving reading skills, increased test scores, LEAP, learning to read, literacy, Louisiana, middle school learning, reading comprehension, reading intervention, reading test gains, student reading growth, technology in education, video

How Can You Predict Student Reading Growth?

• October 15, 2010 by Andrew Ostarello

In 2007, Scientific Learning introduced Reading Progress Indicator, or RPI for short.  RPI is an individually administered, computer-based assessment for reading and language skills.  We will review the key features of RPI, demonstrate its close relationship to a wide array of high-stakes reading tests, and show how it can be used to forecast future district reading success.

When we were building RPI, we wanted an assessment that would achieve the following four goals:

1. Be an individually-administered computerized assessment.
2. Be short and easy to administer.  We wanted a test that took between 30 and 40 minutes to complete.
3. Cover key reading and language skills: phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension.
4. Quickly and reliably detect improvements after using Fast ForWord products.

RPI achieves all four of these goals.

If we look at the academic calendar year, we can see that most state reading assessments happen once a year, in the spring.  Though they are important for measuring student reading growth, they are infrequent.

RPI is a good supplement to the picture of student reading growth.  With a pre-test in the fall, and subsequent tests after completing each product, teachers can get more information to answer critical instruction questions:

Who’s currently succeeding? Who’s on track with their reading growth? And finally, who’s likely to do well on the state reading assessment? Now, that third question can only be answered if RPI measures reading ability in a similar way to those state reading assessments.  Does it?

It turns out it does align well with state reading assessments.  Here’s an example from Florida.  The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT, has a developmental scale score which spans all grade levels.  RPI correlates positively with this FCAT score.  The data shows the correlation is 0.51.  Of course, it’s not perfect, but 0.51 is a pretty strong correlation, and it suggests that RPI measures the same kinds of reading skills that the FCAT measures.

These results are not limited to Florida.  Here are four more tests that have a strong positive correlation to RPI.  The ITBS/ITED tests from Iowa and the ISTEP from Indiana – two more state reading assessments. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading test and the Woodcock-Johnson – both widely used supplemental reading assessments. All of these correlations are well over .5, and all are statistically significant.

So what can be done with these kinds of correlation data? Well, it’s important to realize just how rich this dataset is. We have matched data from over 25,000 RPI Users and data from over 12,000 students who took state assessments and used Fast ForWord products. 

With strong correlations between the two, we can begin to predict student performance on state assessments by looking at the trends in a student’s RPI scores.  Not perfect predictions, of course, but we can build reasonably accurate mathematical models of student growth for a variety of states. 

One application of these models is the Reading Proficiency Growth Calculator.

This tool allows districts to input simple summary numbers, such as the number of students in the district and the percentage of those students reading proficiently at grade level and see what kinds of reading gains are possible for their students under a district-wide implementation of Scientific Learning’s Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ products. 

All of this is possible because of the mathematical models that carefully align RPI to state reading tests.

If you’re interested in exploring what these models forecast for your district, the Reading Proficiency Growth Calculator is available online at www.scilearn.com/RPGC.

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Categories: Fast ForWord, Reading Assistant, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, assessments, child reading development, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Reading Progress Indicator, student reading growth, technology in education

Students Make the Same Reading Gain
in Half the Time with Fast ForWord Language v2

• October 6, 2010 by Andrew Ostarello

In 2008, Scientific Learning introduced a major update to Fast ForWord Language – our award-winning flagship product for language development in elementary-school-aged children. We will discuss the improvements present in the new version of the software: Fast ForWord Language version 2 (or “v2” for short). 

Product development at Scientific Learning occurs with the support of five key areas of research:

• Basic, foundational research
• University-based Research
• Studies conducted by schools using Fast ForWord products
• Detailed Fast ForWord product use data
• Outcomes data such as high-stakes reading and language assessments

We looked at these data sources and decided that we could substantially enhance the Fast ForWord Language experience. We set out to create a completely upgraded version of the software.

We had four primary goals for this revision:

• Increase the number of trials a student performed in a session.
• Increase the overall engagement level of the products by overhauling the graphics and updating the game designs.
• Decrease the time required for students to complete Fast ForWord Language, while
• Maintaining the same levels of learning gain.

As each student uses Fast ForWord software, their machine sends product use data back to Scientific Learning databases in real time. These data are filtered to the Innovation and Research Department for analysis. After we’d developed and released Language v2, we naturally wanted to verify that we’d met our four goals. A few months after release, we used a data mining approach to compare the performance of Language v1 to the performance of Language v2.

Data mining is a very data-hungry process, but our database is broad enough that we’re swimming in data. We ended up with a rich data set containing data from over 16,000 students who used either Language v1 or Language v2. 

Here is what we found regarding our first goal: Increased trial count. In an average 50-minute session, Language v2 users performed 21% more trials than Language v1 users.

Our second goal was to increase student engagement. We created new exercises and introduced new characters. For example, we created Whaliens. The core exercise is the same as Phonic Match in Language v1, but the graphics are better, there are many more exciting animations, and there are multiple new visual indicators of student progress. In addition, lots of significant revisions were made to the stimuli and educational design of this and other exercises. These revisions help create a more enticing experience for students.

Our third goal: We wanted to decrease time to completion. The most exciting finding is that Language v2 takes HALF the time to complete that Language v1 does. This means that students who use Language v2 can finish and start the next Fast ForWord product in their sequence more quickly.

Finally, did we meet our goal of having equivalent learning gain? We found that Language v2 users make 50% more reading gain per hour of use than Language v1 users. Combined with the fact that Language v2 takes about half the time to complete,  it turns out that the total reading gains from v1 and v2 are statistically indistinguishable from each other. 

So Language v2 provides equivalent reading and language gains in half the time of Language v1. This leads to the conclusion that, in addition to offering a more engaging and intensive Fast ForWord experience, Language v2 is twice as efficient as Language v1.

To learn more, visit our Fast ForWord Language v2 product page. 

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Categories: Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: accelerate learning, brain training, elementary school learning, Fast ForWord characters, improving reading skills