OAKLAND, Calif., June 4, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Schools looking to improve student reading at all grade levels now have an easier way to provide proven literacy support to learners, in school and at home. The Reading Assistant™ program from Scientific Learning Corp. (Nasdaq:SCIL) is now available online via the MySciLEARN™ platform, giving students anytime, anywhere access to patented technology that provides immediate, individualized oral reading feedback and support.
Designed to save time and maximize the effectiveness of administrators, teachers, and reading coaches, the MySciLEARN online platform provides a single access point for Scientific Learning's proven, research-based educational products. Additionally, the platform offers new multilevel implementation and performance reports for the Reading Assistant program to improve data-driven decision-making. The enhanced reports feature graphical depictions of usage, performance, and reading level trends; graphical indicators highlighting student proficiency levels; and at-a-glance data summaries — including a high-level summary that gauges the overall reading level of an individual or group. Aggregate reports allow educators to drill down to detailed student level data.
With no physical disks to install or software to implement on district servers, schools can use the hosted MySciLEARN platform to rapidly deploy the Reading Assistant program, so students can get started quickly. It is scalable for any size district and supports a variety of implementations, from one student to thousands, and in classrooms, before- and after-school programs, and at home. MySciLEARN also includes the SciLearnU training site with self-paced training programs, instructional resources, and tools to enhance educators' daily practice and accelerate the impact of the Reading Assistant program.
Speech Recognition Technology
The Reading Assistant program combines advanced speech recognition technology with research-based reading instruction to help students strengthen their reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. As students practice reading out loud, the program "listens" and provides immediate, personalized feedback and guidance. Clickable glossary words with definitions available in English or Spanish help build vocabulary, and "Think About It" questions and quizzes at the end of each selection help build comprehension.
Teachers receive assessment reports and can listen — anytime, anywhere — to audio samples of their students as if they had been sitting next to them while they read. With Reading Assistant, students can improve their reading grade level up to 50 percent more than students receiving classroom instruction alone. Further, teachers across the country report that in addition to helping students learn to read, Reading Assistant helps them read to learn, which improves performance across all subjects.
"With the Reading Assistant program on the MySciLEARN platform, schools and districts can provide the additional guided oral reading practice that's crucial for reading success, whenever and wherever it's convenient for students and their families," said Andy Myers, president and chief executive officer. "New reports and performance indicators available through the online platform enable educators to easily track both usage and performance at the student, group, school, and district levels to maximize student achievement. Plus, the user interface brings all the tools educators need together in one place, providing intuitive, one-stop access to training, reports, resources, product updates, and more."
Reading Assistant is designed to help students of diverse ages and ability levels, including beginning readers, English language learners, struggling readers, and more advanced readers who are reading on grade level. Customers using the MySciLEARN platform can now access all of the current Reading Assistant Content Pack collections from kindergarten through grade 12. For customers also using the Fast ForWord® program online, all levels of content from both programs can now be conveniently accessed through a single interface.
About Scientific Learning Corp.
We accelerate learning by applying proven research on how the brain learns. Scientific Learning's results are demonstrated in over 250 research studies and protected by over 55 patents. Learners can realize achievement gains of up to two years in as little as three months and maintain an accelerated rate of learning even after the programs end.
Today, learners have used over 3 million Scientific Learning software products. We provide our offerings directly to parents, K–12 schools and learning centers, and in more than 40 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.scientificlearning.com or call toll-free 888-810-0250.