Fast ForWord Trial Results

Fast ForWord was developed by Scientific Learning, a company run first and foremost by scientists who have compiled an impressive amount of Fast ForWord empirical evidence to prove their case.   Fast ForWord science combines cognitive research (how children learn) with neuroscience (how the brain adapts, rewires with the right stimulus).

Gemm Learning's initial decision to offer Fast ForWord software was based on the results we saw in trials conducted by a bunch of universities, and by dozens of school districts.  While the results are catalogued on the Fast ForWord website, the people conducting the trials are all well-regarded and would not allow the results to be published that were in any way untrue or deceptive.  No other learning intervention can match Fast ForWord in either the white papers or the trials.

Longitudinal Research Demonstrates That Fast ForWord(R) Products Produce Enduring Neurological Changes

Two longitudinal studies of Idaho students using Fast ForWord software intervention found that the students not only made significant and dramatic gains in reading achievement and learning, but also continued to improve their skills more than a year later.

Students in the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 in Pocatello, ID, participating in the first study improved from the 13th percentile in reading to the 22nd immediately following use of the Fast ForWord products for approximately eight weeks.  Even more significantly, they continued to improve thereafter, extending their original gains to the 39th percentile 18 months later -- even though no other Fast ForWord products were used.  This demonstrates that the neurological changes produced by Fast ForWord software not only quickly produce additional learning capacity, allowing struggling learners to take advantage of their classroom instruction, but continue to provide long-term benefits.

In the second study, students improved from just 19 percent achieving a basic reading level to 61 percent reaching that level or better.  One year later, that impressive gain held nearly steady at 59 percent with no additional Fast ForWord software being used, again verifying that the unique Fast ForWord intervention produces changes that are sustained over time.

As a small, rural school district, Pocatello/Chubbuck has limited resources with which to expand its Fast ForWord program, but "As soon as the grant money comes in," says Ronda Black, "we put it toward Fast ForWord."

One of their most successful efforts to date has been a district-wide after school program. The results have been "just fantastic," says Black.

"We've had two sessions going with 25-30 kids in each session. At the 12-week break, when we were ready to bring in new students, half the parents came to us and said, 'We don't want our child to stop.' "

Our phones were ringing off the hook with parents begging, 'Please don't take my child out of this.'"

Study Protocols
Both groups of students were followed longitudinally through the 2004-2005 school year, and had their reading skills evaluated with the Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) in the fall and spring of each school year


4-year Dallas High School study

Dallas Independent School District, TX (Longitudinal)

During the three years prior to Fast ForWord use, participant's TAKS Reading scores moved in the same manner as their peers' scores statewide. 

After Fast ForWord software use, the students made significant improvement.  These gains were built on in subsequent years. 

Teachers attribute these gains to improved confidence leading to a more productive school day.  In addition, learning skill development is sequential and so by removing a glitch in a foundational learning skill allows higher thinking skills to develop more normally.