11/7/16

Media Contact: 
Hallie Smith
Director of Marketing
Scientific Learning Corporation
(619) 888-0887
[email protected]

Oakland, Calif. — Nov. 7, 2016 — Since Scientific Learning Corp. (OTC PINK:SCIL) was founded 20 years ago, a number of highly respected, independent educational organizations have reviewed its products and found them effective in raising literacy outcomes. Scientists, too, have put the Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ programs to the test in carefully-designed studies, often published in peer review journals. This week, educators and staff who work in schools and districts once again praised the effectiveness of the online reading interventions by honoring each with an award in the annual THE Journal Readers’ Choice Awards.

In the 2016 Readers’ Choice Awards, more than 1,000 tech-savvy readers of THE Journal named their favorite technologies in dozens of categories. The Fast ForWord program won the Gold Award in the “Best Intervention & Remediation Software” category, which recognizes products that help identify struggling students and bring them back on course. Indeed, more than 250 research studies prove that Fast ForWord can build the foundational language and cognitive skills that so many students with special needs, struggling readers and English language learners need to succeed. By using Fast ForWord, students can improve their language and reading skills by up to two grade levels in as little as three months, simultaneously boosting performance across all areas of study. Research also shows that these gains endure over time.

Reading Assistant earned a Silver Award in the “Best Adaptive/Personalized Learning Tool” category, which honors products for delivering just the right learning experience to the student at the moment it’s needed. Reading Assistant is the only tool that uses speech recognition technology to support and correct learners as they read aloud, building reading fluency and comprehension with the help of a supportive listener. No other program or e-book provides comparable real-time guidance and feedback.

“You can’t put a price tag on a child being able to read, but we’ve found that the return on investment in using Scientific Learning’s products is tenfold,” said Randy Poe, superintendent of Boone County Schools in Kentucky. “We have thousands of students who are now reading on grade level, who would not have been able to do that without Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant. These programs have dramatically increased students’ enthusiasm for learning.”