Kenmare Community School in Ireland Featured on Pobal Broadcast on RTÉ
Television story described how Kenmare students measurably improved reading skills using Fast ForWord® educational software products
3/13/08
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Oakland, Calif. - March 13, 2008 - Kenmare Community School (Pobalscoil Inbhear Sceine) in Kerry, Ireland was recently featured in a news story on the RTÉ television program, Pobal, which profiled the school's successful pilot of Scientific Learning® (NASDAQ:SCIL) Fast ForWord® educational software. The broadcast, which originally aired on Feb. 24, illustrated how the school has implemented the Fast ForWord program to improve students' reading skills and described how students have achieved significant gains.
More than 50 students have participated in the Fast ForWord program over the last year and a half at Kenmare Community School. The Fast ForWord family of educational software products accelerate learning by developing the student brain to process more efficiently. On average, students using the Fast ForWord software achieve a one to two year reading gain in eight to 12 weeks.
The Fast ForWord software, supported by Neuron Learning Ltd, the Value Added Representative for Scientific Learning in the UK and Ireland, is part of Kenmare Community School's learning support program. Students use the Fast ForWord products at school and at home for additional practice. With the computer-based system, teachers report they can deliver far greater support to a higher number of students than they could with a paper-based system.
Kenmare Community School tested the reading ages of students before they started the Fast ForWord program and after using the program. "Within the space of 12 months, I have students who have improved their reading age by as much as three-and-a-half years. Now that is a massive improvement," said Norma Moriarty, a learning support teacher, during an interview in the Pobal story. "We have found it to be one of the most efficient means of delivering a comprehensive learning support package that we have ever encountered."
In the Pobal story, Principal Dermot Healy said, "This package has revolutionized learning support in Pobalscoil Inbhear Sceine. Once the students see their learning curve going up, they buy into it and the confidence it gives them is huge."
Students enjoy using the Fast ForWord program as well. In the Pobal story, a student named Sean said, "I feel it's helped my concentration and it's helped my focus in class. It's also helped my reading and my grades have gone up greatly during the year that I've been doing it, so I'm happy." A student named Richard explained, "You're doing two jobs at once ... because you're having fun and you're learning."
A parent interviewed in the Pobal story also expressed support for the program. Maureen Gudgeon of the Parents Association Learning Support Subcommittee said, "Since it's been introduced in the school, we as parents have found amazing results. The children have really improved in reading age, confidence, and self-esteem and concentration. We've been just so pleased at how the children have progressed in that time."
The Fast ForWord software was piloted at Kenmare Community School with a grant from Ireland's Department of Education and Science. The grant allowed the school to purchase computers and Fast ForWord licenses for two years. The school now wants the program extended. Principal Healy said, "It has been such a tremendous success that we'd now like to engage the department in purchasing maybe universal licenses so that it could be rolled out to all schools - such are the benefits to the students that use this program."
The Fast ForWord products have been introduced to more than 20 schools across Ireland. Neuron Learning manages the implementations, including software distribution, teacher training, back-up support and data analysis. The company has offices in London, Birmingham, Dublin and Cork.
The Feb. 24 edition of Pobal featuring Kenmare Community School can be viewed at http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0224/pobal.html.
About RTÉ
RTÉ is a public service broadcaster, a nonprofit organization owned by the Irish people. RTÉ is Ireland's cross-media leader, providing comprehensive and cost-effective free-to-air television, radio and online services.
RTÉ has been producing and curating broadcast materials for eight decades. The RTÉ Libraries and Archives collections consist of radio and television programs, still images, production files, scripts, music scores and manuscripts.
About Scientific Learning Corporation
Scientific Learning creates educational software that accelerates learning by improving the processing efficiency of the brain. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscience and cognitive research, the Fast ForWord® family of products provides struggling readers with computer-delivered exercises that build the cognitive skills required to read and learn effectively. Scientific Learning Reading AssistantTM combines advanced speech recognition technology with scientifically-based courseware to help students strengthen fluency, vocabulary and comprehension to become proficient, life-long readers. The efficacy of the products has been established by more than 550 research studies and publications. For more information, visit http://www.scilearn.com and http://www.brainconnection.com, or call toll-free 888-452-7323.
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