Texas Students Post Excellent TAKS Gains After Using Fast ForWord® Products
Amarillo Ninth-Graders Outperform Expected Reading Scores by 19 Points
2/27/07
Media Contact:
Mary Anne Petrillo
Director of Marketing
Scientific Learning Corporation
(510) 625-2218
mpetrillo@scilearn.com
Investor Contact:
Jane A. Freeman
Senior Vice President
Scientific Learning Corporation
(888) 665-9707, ext. 5526
investorrelations@scilearn.com
OAKLAND, CA - 2/27/2007 - After using Scientific Learning Corporation's (NASDAQ:SCIL - News) Fast ForWord® neuroscience-based reading products, ninth-grade students at Palo Duro High School in the Amarillo (Texas) Independent School District made significant gains in their scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test - besting their projected scores by an average of 19 points.
In a recent study, students who used the Fast ForWord products during the 2005-2006 school year achieved an average Texas Growth Index (TGI) 73% higher than the 2005 school-wide average. In addition, the number of students meeting the state reading standard increased substantially, from 74% to 84%.
"The results of the Palo Duro High School study clearly demonstrate how effective the Fast ForWord products are in strengthening students' foundational cognitive skills, enabling them to maximize classroom instruction and improve their reading and learning skills," said Robert C. Bowen, Chairman and CEO of Scientific Learning.
"We believe the Fast ForWord products made a difference in our ninth-grade state reading scores, which leads us to the conclusion that the Fast ForWord intervention helped to strengthen reading comprehension," said Palo Duro High School Principal Kevin Phillips.
Students participating in the single-school case study used one or more Fast ForWord products in the winter and spring of 2006; their reading skills were evaluated at the end of their eighth- and ninth-grade years using the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and/or the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests.
About the Amarillo Independent School District and Palo Duro High School
The Amarillo Independent School District is located in the Texas Panhandle and serves over 29,000 students. Palo Duro High School serves an ethnically diverse student body of more than 1800 students in grades 9 through 12.
About Scientific Learning Corporation
Scientific Learning produces the patented Fast ForWord® family of products, a series of computer-delivered intervention products that build learning capacity by developing the neurocognitive skills required to read and learn effectively. These foundational skills are built through a series of brain-based exercises that create fast, effective, and enduring results. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscience and cognitive research, the Fast ForWord products use patented technology and applications of validated neuroscience principles to help children, adolescents, and adults build the language and reading skills widely recognized as the keys to all learning.
The exercises align with the scientifically based reading-research guidelines and the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. The efficacy of the products has been confirmed by more than 200 independent research studies.
For more information about Scientific Learning and its products, visit our Web sites at www.scientificlearning.comand www.brainconnection.com, or call toll-free 888-452-7323.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbor created by the federal securities laws. Such statements include, among others, statements relating to the future market perception and acceptance of the Company's products. Such statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ materially as a result of many factors, including but not limited to: general economic conditions; the extent of acceptance and purchase of the Company's products by target customers; competition; availability of funding to purchase the Company's products and generally available to schools; the extent to which the Company's marketing, sales and implementation strategies are successful; the Company's ability to continue to demonstrate the efficacy of its products, which depends on how the programs are administered, the demography of participants and other factors; the Company's ability to recruit and retain key personnel; and other risks detailed in the Company's SEC reports, including but not limited to the Report on Form 10Q (Part II, Item 1A, Risk Factors), filed November 8, 2006.
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