Fast ForWord
Fast ForWord from Scientific Learning is offered as a supplemental after school program at Porter Academy. Up to twelve students will be accepted into the program per semester to participate at school, but additional students may participate in the program from home. We only offer this program to Porter Academy students. This is an intervention that is strongly supported by independent research and has consistently demonstrated significant improvements in reading and language arts. The below information about Fast ForWord comes from their website http://www.scilearn.com/
Wiring the Brain for Academic Gain
Students can average a one to two grade level reading gain in 8 to 12 weeks. When the brain’s processing skills become more efficient, substantial and quick gains in reading comprehension skills are often the outcome.
Effective
Fast ForWord software is recognized as a proven scientifically based reading intervention product by leaders in the advancement of learning at top educational organizations. Read Fast ForWord reviews from respected independent educational organizations.
Scientifically based research in education has shown that with recommended protocol use, Fast ForWord products dramatically improve brain processing efficiency and reading skills. With data gathered independently by schools from almost 30,000 students, we have one of the largest databases of user results in education today.
Enduring
Our reading improvement products use patented technologies that leverage the science of brain plasticity. By exercising processing skills through intensive, adaptive activity, actual physical changes occur in the brain. And those physical changes result in enduring gains in language and reading skills, as documented in longitudinal studies.
Skills Developed
The Fast ForWord Language v2 exercises help students strengthen fundamental cognitive skills that are critical to learning across the curriculum. These cognitive skills are developed in the context of learning activities that simultaneously help students improve their English language arts and reading skills. Cognitive skills developed include working memory, sustained and focused attention, auditory processing, sequencing ability, listening accuracy, and visual symbol sound associations. Language and reading skills that are targeted include language comprehension (following directions), phonemic awareness, sound-letter correspondence, vocabulary, grammar, story comprehension and retelling, answering “wh-“ questions, left-to-right visual tracking, decoding skills, and sight-word recognition.
A Glimpse at the Research
Nevada Department of Education Finds Fast ForWord a “High-Gain Program”
The Nevada Senate Bill 185 (SB 185) funded districts to purchase and implement innovative and remedial educational programs, materials, and strategies specific to their academic needs.
The Nevada Department of Education commissioned the Leadership and Learning Center (LLC) to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the programs that had been purchased with SB 185 grants. Their 2010 Interim Report includes a review of the performance of Fast ForWord products.
The Report concludes that Fast ForWord products increased student reading achievement by an average of 22.2 percentage points, which was the largest average impact of all programs reviewed in the Report.
Students in British Columbia exceed expected gains after Fast ForWord use
A review of Fast ForWord use and outcomes among students in British Columbia, Canada, was conducted at the request of the Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience Institute (BCNI), at Simon Fraser University. More than 1,300 BC students had their reading skills assessed with Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) before and after using the Fast ForWord products in the 2012-13 and/or 2013-14 school years. On average, Fast ForWord users far exceeded expected reading gains, with improvements of 1.4 years in the 5 months between tests.
Longitudinal Analyses Show Students Maintained Significant Improvements in MCAS Scores for at Least Two Years
School District: Everett Public Schools
School Structure: Urban
Grade Level: 5th–10th Grade
Many of the students in the Everett Public Schools used the Fast ForWord products for multiple years. An analysis of achievement level showed a net increase in achievement level by 26% of the students. A longitudinal analysis showed that students made statistically significant improvements in reading achievement during their first year of Fast ForWord participation and that they continued to make statistically significant improvements up to two years later.
