Swartz Creek (MI) Community School District Selected as National Reference Site
District Is Recognized for Outstanding Implementation of Fast ForWord®
4/10/07
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 - 04/10/2007 - Scientific Learning Corporation (NASDAQ:SCIL - News) has announced that Michigan's Swartz Creek Community School District has been designated a National Reference Site. Swartz Creek joins a select group of districts nationwide that exemplify the outstanding use of the company's computer-based Fast ForWord® family of reading-intervention products.
As a National Reference Site, the Swartz Creek district will serve as a real-life resource for other school districts seeking advice on how to best utilize the Fast ForWord products to provide dramatic changes to achievement trajectory for their students, enabling them to more fully benefit from classroom instruction and move toward reading and learning proficiency. Because of its broad use of the Fast ForWord products in nearly all of the district's schools, Swartz Creek will also provide a research base for new Scientific Learning products and services.
According to Sherrelle Walker, Scientific Learning's Chief Education Officer, Swartz Creek Community Schools is an outstanding example of a commitment to the Fast ForWord solution, due to its targeted use with its special education population and excellent test results achieved.
Sharon Fouts, the district's assistant superintendent, commented, "The Fast ForWord products worked wonders as an intervention for Special Education referrals. These referrals dropped by 30% after students used the products. We now require that any student being referred for a learning disability in language or math use the Fast ForWord products before we consider doing any further testing."
Ms. Fouts continued, "In addition, students using the Fast ForWord intervention made rapid gains in standardized testing, and teachers, parents, and students began providing extremely positive feedback. In one case, a student who had previously shunned reading even obtained a library card, saying that his Fast ForWord use had helped him learn to read better -- and actually like the process."
"The range of achievements made by this district using the support of the Fast ForWord intervention is outstanding," said Ms. Walker. "The district is committed to achieving excellence for all its students and is an outstanding example for other districts implementing the Fast ForWord family of products. We are thrilled to welcome Swartz Creek to our growing family of National Reference Sites."
"We are very pleased to be named a National Reference Site and look forward to sharing our experiences with the Fast ForWord technology with other districts around the country," said Dr. Jeff Pratt, Superintendent of Swartz Creek Community Schools. "The Fast ForWord intervention has been very successful for us, and we are excited to have the opportunity to become more involved with the development and enhancement of the Fast ForWord products."
Swartz Creek's Fast ForWord product coordinators will answer questions from educators and officials nationwide to help them develop effective strategies for implementing the products in their own districts. In addition, the district's educators will conduct seminars, open houses, and informational sessions and make presentations at national conferences and symposia. The district will also participate in research studies, surveys, and focus groups to help Scientific Learning refine the Fast ForWord products.
About Swartz Creek Community Schools
The Swartz Creek Community Schools district is located in Genesee County, Michigan, and serves approximately 4,200 students in 8 schools.
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 projections and other forward-looking
statements that are subject to the safe harbor created by the federal securities
laws. Such statements include, among others, statements relating to expected
activities on the part of the school district. 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: scheduling concerns,
availability of school district resources and other risks detailed in the Company's
SEC reports, including but not limited to the Report on Form 10-K (Item 1A Risk
Factors), filed March 8, 2007.
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