Scientific Learning Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant Programs Help Schools Compete for Investing in Innovation Grants

Research-Based Software Programs Help Students Build the Cognitive Skills Required to Read and Learn Effectively

OAKLAND, Calif., May 04, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Schools seeking to win competitive grants from the $650 million Investing in Innovation (i3) fund can strengthen their applications with innovative, evidence-based programs from Scientific Learning Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!scil/quotes/nls/scil (SCIL 5.29, +0.23, +4.55%) .
Scientific Learning combines scientific expertise with effective technologies to create products that develop brain processing and literacy skills, and increase reading proficiency for students of all ages. The company's Fast ForWord(R) and Reading Assistant(TM) software programs address all four of the i3 competition's absolute priorities, which are directly aligned with the four education reform areas under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The absolute priorities are innovations that: support effective teachers and principals; improve the use of data; complement the implementation of high standards and high-quality assessments; and turn around persistently low-performing schools.
The research-based software programs also address all four competitive preference priorities in the i3 competition. These are innovations that: improve early learning outcomes; support college access and success; address the unique learning needs of students with disabilities and limited English proficient students; and serve schools in rural local educational agencies.
Indeed, at the Collins Career Center, a vocational school for 11th and 12th graders in rural Chesapeake, Ohio, the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs have helped students raise their reading levels and achieve significant gains on the Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT). As a result, district administrators plan to apply for an i3 grant to expand the programs to every school in the county. "In Lawrence County, the poverty rate is high and the literacy rate is low. Our goals with the i3 grant are to strengthen students' brain processing and literacy skills, and to have every student reading at grade level," said Dan Harmon, Fast ForWord coordinator at the Collins Career Center.
The Collins Career Center began using the Fast ForWord software in 2007-08 to help students build the cognitive skills -- memory, attention, processing rate and sequencing -- essential for learning and reading success. After working on the Fast ForWord products 30 minutes a day for an average of 40 sessions, students who showed reading gains improved their reading grade level an average of one year and two months on the Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) assessment. In addition, in 2009, students who used the Fast ForWord program gained an average of 6.3 points in reading and 15.2 points in writing on the OGT. In contrast, students who did not use the program decreased 2.1 points in reading and increased only 3.8 points in writing. Fast ForWord students also achieved greater gains than their peers in math, science and social studies.
"Although our school serves 11th and 12th grade, students come to us with an average reading level between sixth and seventh grade. Last year on the OGT, students who used the Fast ForWord program raised their scores by an average of 10 points per test. Students who didn't use the program raised their scores an average of eight-tenths of one point. That's a 10 to 1 difference. That's why we expanded our implementation to provide Fast ForWord to every student in the school," said Harmon. "This year, we also added Reading Assistant to help students strengthen their reading fluency, and we're already seeing gains in students' fluency rates."
In addition to the i3 priorities, the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs likewise address two of the three i3 grant categories particularly well: "Scale-up" grants for proven programs that are ready to grow, and "Validation" grants for programs that exist in pilot form, where research shows they work. Based on more than 30 years of research into how the brain learns, the efficacy of the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant products has been established by more than 200 research studies. Educators and administrators can find a plethora of information about federal grant programs, and tips for submitting proposals, at the Scientific Learning web site: http://www.scilearn.com/resources/funding/federal-funding-sources/.
About Scientific Learning Corp.
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(R) family of products provides struggling readers with computer-delivered exercises that build the cognitive skills required to read and learn effectively. Scientific Learning Reading Assistant(TM) 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 200 research studies. For more information, visit www.scientificlearning.com or call toll-free 888-358-0212.