The Results of Fast ForWord Use at the Westfield Washington Schools in Indiana

• July 13, 2010 by Melissa Agocs

The Westfield Washington Schools are located just north of Indianapolis, in Indiana. During the 2007 - 2008 school year, the Westfield Intermediate School implemented Fast ForWord products.

For this study, the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) were used as a pre- and post-test. The MAP assesses language arts, math, and reading skills. Ninety-eight students used the Fast ForWord products and had MAP scores that could serve as pre- and post-tests.

School personnel administered the assessment and then reported scores to Scientific Learning for analysis. On average, students used the products over a period of six months. The majority of students used three or more Fast ForWord products, starting on the Fast ForWord Literacy product, then advancing to the Literacy Advanced product, and then on to one or more Fast ForWord Reading products.

MAP scores are reported in terms of RIT scores, which indicate a student’s achievement level within a specific subject. To provide a performance comparison, participants’ gains were compared to the student’s expected gains, which were based upon RIT growth norms in the three subject areas of language arts, math, and reading.

Students showed exciting results and exceeded the expected RIT growth norms. Students who used Fast ForWord products made 7 points of RIT growth in language arts, which is 67% greater than the expected growth of 4.2 points. Gains of 10.1 points were seen in math for the Fast ForWord participants, which is 35% greater than the expected growth. Students gained 8.8 points in reading, which is nearly double the expected 4.5 points growth.

The differences between the gain scores and the expected gain scores were statistically significant in all three subject areas. These results suggest that using the Fast ForWord products strengthened the students’ foundational skills and better positioned them to benefit from the classroom curriculum.

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

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

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, assessments, brain training, child reading development, curriculum, improving reading skills, increased test scores, Indiana, investing in innovation, language learning, learning to read, literacy, MAP, math, phonemic awareness, school leader effectiveness, teacher effectiveness, technology in education

Child Reading Development and Language Skills Webinar

• April 8, 2010 by Denise Ruvalcaba

Updated June 1, 2010

Language learning begins at birth and continues throughout early childhood.  A child’s brain needs plenty of early language exposure to map the phonemes—or speech sounds—of her native language. 

Without a good language background, a child is likely to struggle with reading.  Children who are reading below grade level in the first grade are at risk for remaining below grade level in reading ability throughout their school years, and being poor readers as adults.

Early reading intervention gets better results than remediation provided later in life.  Listen to our pre-recorded child reading development webinar with Cory Armes and Dr. Joseph Noble and find out how struggling students in an Iowa school district boosted their language skills from the 36th to the 59th percentile.

The latter half of the child reading development webinar addresses various funding sources—including Stimulus Package opportunities—that districts can apply for to bring similar results to their learners.

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Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Education Funding, Grants, and Stimulus, Fast ForWord, Reading Assistant

Tags: academic success, assessments, attention, child reading development, cognitive skills, curriculum, early learning, how children learn, IDEA, increased test scores, innovation, intervention, Iowa, language learning, learning to read, literacy, memory, processing, processing rate, reading intervention, technology in education, title i, vocabulary, webinar

Learn about Scientific Learning Reading Intervention Products at the 2010 ASCD Conference

• February 9, 2010 by Denise Ruvalcaba

Are you a Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, Director, or District-level Administrator attending the 2010 ASCD conference in San Antonio?  

Visit us March 6 - 8 at Booth #213 to learn about our research-validated Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ reading interventions.  Schools around the United States have increased state assessment scores after implementing Scientific Learning products.  

And when you stop by, don't forget to pick up one of our ever-popular "squishy brains"—a reminder of the importance of brain fitness in learning, and a great conversation piece.

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Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

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

Tags: assessments, education conference, increased test scores, reading intervention, struggling readers

Liberty Public Schools Improves Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) Scores

• January 12, 2010 by Denise Ruvalcaba

Over the last three years, Liberty Public Schools has steadily improved MAP scores and Franklin Elementary has achieved even greater gains. From 2008 to 2009, the percentage of Franklin Elementary students scoring at the proficient level or above on the MAP jumped from 65 percent to 82 percent in communication arts, and from 69 percent to 80 percent in mathematics. According to Dr. Barbara Wippich, curriculum and instruction intervention coordinator for the LPS, Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ software have played a big role in the district's success.  Click here to view case study

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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, Reading Assistant

Tags: assessments, elementary learning, MAP, Missouri, increased test scores