How do the Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ Products fit with the Race to the Top Fund?
Education innovation and reform
- Scientific Learning products help spur on reform by getting at the root cause of many learning problems and effecting change in the way students assimilate, process, and remember information, thereby enabling students to be ready to learn the curriculum their instructors are teaching them.
- The Fast ForWord software products are based on over 30 years of innovative scientific research into the way the brain learns, using breakthroughs in brain plasticity as well as patented, computer enabled, digitally enhanced sound.
- The Reading Assistant software “listens” as a student reads aloud and, using innovative speech verification technology, monitors for signs of difficulty, providing real-time assistance when the student stumbles or gets stuck.
Making substantial gains in student achievement
- To date, students in almost 6,000 schools have achieved gains of one to two years in language or reading skills with the Fast ForWord products.
- Numerous independent studies as well as detailed research and outcomes data consistently confirm the effectiveness of the products.
- After using the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant products, students have shown gains in achievement on a variety of standardized tests and state assessments. For example, Fast ForWord participants in Everett Public Schools in Everett, Massachusetts, made significant gains in reading achievement following Fast ForWord product use during the 2007-2008 school year. Sixty-six percent of the students improved their MCAS Reading score in 2008 with an average improvement of 4.6 points.
- The Scientific Learning website has over 200 school based effectiveness and case reports documenting the substantial gains in achievement made by students after using the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant products.
Closing achievement gaps
- Scientific Learning’s educational software products have been proven to help close achievement gaps between students. For instance, after using the Fast ForWord products the students at Dallas Independent School District in Texas made significant improvements in their TAKS scores. The Fast ForWord participants initially had an achievement gap of approximately 200 points. After participation, the average decrease in the gap for the 544 students was 25%.
Improving high school graduation rates
- Scientific Learning’s products have helped struggling high school students graduate, like a group of struggling high school students in Lafourche Parish Public Schools in Louisiana who had failed the Graduate Exit Exam. These students used the Fast ForWord products before retaking the exam and, on average, made significant gains on the English Language Arts section of the GEE, improving their scores 39 points.
- Another example can be found in a study of students attending Portable Practical Educational Preparation Training for Employment Centers High School, an alternative high school in Tucson for students at risk of becoming permanent dropouts of the Arizona public educational system. These students made substantial gains in reading ability after using the Fast ForWord products. On average, reading skills improved 3 1/2 years. The group of students also made more than two years gain in Passage Comprehension and approximately 14 months gain on Letter-Word Identification.
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