Texas district’s students achieve strong reading gains after using Scientific Learning products

10/21/15

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

Oakland, Calif. — Oct. 21, 2015 — After successfully implementing the Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ programs from Scientific Learning Corp. (SCIL: OTC PINK) in 30 schools, Grand Prairie Independent School District (ISD) in Texas will expand its implementation to 37 schools this fall. During the 2014-15 school year, students who used these neuroscience-based solutions achieved average reading level gains of one year and five months in 75 days of use.

“Across the board, we’ve seen gains in the reading levels of our students who have been using the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs,” said Linda Ellis, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning for Grand Prairie ISD. “It’s really allowed us to accelerate our reading instruction for our students.”

In Grand Prairie ISD, where 72 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, 22 percent are limited English proficient, and 9 percent receive special education services, each school determines which students will use the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant online interventions. In many schools, the programs are used by struggling readers, English language learners and students receiving special education services. In addition, some schools make the programs available to specific grade levels or other populations, such as students participating in the gifted and talented program.

“When students struggle in reading, it’s often difficult to identify the root cause,” said Ellis. “Fast ForWord starts with cognitive skills such as memory, attention and processing speed, and works from the bottom up to remediate underlying difficulties that keep students from making progress. With Reading Assistant, students receive individualized reading coaching every time they use the software. The schools that weren’t using these programs saw the improvements in other schools and thus made the choice to implement the programs this year. We’re hoping to see the same success in these schools that we’ve seen in our other schools.”

For more information, visit www.scilearn.com.