OAKLAND, Calif. - (Business Wire) Kanawha County Schools, the largest public school district in West Virginia and the district serving the state capital of Charleston, has selected Reading Assistant™ from Scientific Learning (NASDAQ:SCIL) to help boost the performance of struggling fourth and fifth grade readers in the district’s 26 Title I elementary schools. The Reading Assistant reading intervention software combines advanced speech recognition technology with scientifically-based interventions to help students strengthen their reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. According to Jane Roberts, assistant superintendent of elementary education at Kanawha, Reading Assistant will be a key component of the district’s Response to Intervention (RtI) program, which is being expanded this year to serve students in kindergarten through fifth grade. A committee consisting of Superintendent Dr. Ron Duerring, reading specialists, principals and other administrators reviewed several programs and selected Reading Assistant to be used with Tier 2 students in the RtI program.
Through its research-validated speech recognition technology, Reading Assistant “listens” as students read aloud, and provides assistance and feedback whenever students are challenged by a word. “Some schools don’t have the staff for intensive small-group intervention lessons,” explained Roberts. “Reading Assistant makes oral reading practice possible even when their teacher cannot be nearby.”
Roberts also stated that the software’s capacity for saying unfamiliar words aloud at students’ request, as well as its ability to provide contextual sentences and picture representations, are among the features that she and the review committee believe will be of special benefit to struggling readers. Other features the committee cited as particularly beneficial for Kanawha students are the software’s abilities to model selected reading so pupils can hear the correct pronunciation and inflection beforehand; record oral reading so users can privately play back and assess their own efforts; and display quiz scores, fluency scores and more so students can take ownership of their own advancement while teachers are updated on their development.
The district purchased the software licenses in the second quarter 2009 and plans to implement Reading Assistant in Kanawha County’s 26 Title I elementary schools during the 2009-10 school year.
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® 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™ 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 550 research studies and publications. For more information, visit www.scientificlearning.com or call toll-free 888-358-0212.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbor created by the federal securities laws. Such statements include, among others, statements relating to the future implementation of and benefits to be derived from the software. Such statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ materially as a result of many factors, including but not limited to: the resources available to and other factors impacting the school district, the manner in which the district implements the software, and other risks detailed in Scientific Learning’s SEC reports, including but not limited to the Report on Form10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 (Part II, Item 1A, Risk Factors), filed August 15, 2009.
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