Duval County Public Schools Embrace Fast ForWord® Software for Literacy Support
Florida District Expands Use of Fast ForWord Intervention to 33 Schools
12/5/06
Media Contact:
Mary Anne Petrillo
Director of Marketing
Scientific Learning Corporation
(510) 625-2218
mpetrillo@scilearn.com
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Jane A. Freeman
Senior Vice President
Scientific Learning Corporation
(888) 665-9707, ext. 5526
investorrelations@scilearn.com
OAKLAND, CA - 12/5/2006 - Duval County (Fla.) Public Schools has expanded its use of Scientific Learning Corporation's (NASDAQ: SCIL) Fast ForWord® family of neuroscience-based reading intervention products to nearly three dozen district schools.
As part of an ongoing commitment to support and fundamentally improve the academic lives of struggling learners across all its schools, the district has phased the Fast ForWord reading intervention products across multiple grade levels throughout Jacksonville, Florida. The Fast ForWord software is currently in use in 33 elementary, middle, and high schools and is helping students build and improve the four essential cognitive skills critical for learning: memory, attention, speech processing, and sequencing. The district is also using these data-proven Fast ForWord interventions to assist its students who are English-language learners (ELL) and students who are receiving district educational services within Department of Juvenile Justice facilities.
"Duval County Public Schools is committed to bringing the best educational innovations possible to its students, and we're excited to be a part of this critical mission," said Robert C. Bowen, Chairman and CEO of Scientific Learning. "We're looking forward having our Fast ForWord products, which are scientifically proven to strengthen the underlying cognitive skills necessary for reading and learning, used by the students in Duval County. These neurological changes create fast, dramatically improved achievement results that endure over time."
"We have been extremely impressed with the Fast ForWord products following implementation; the results to date are significant, and in addition to academic gains, we are seeing notable improvements in classroom performance and attendance," said Dr. Joseph Wise, Superintendent of Duval County Public Schools. "We are committed to providing high-quality educational opportunities and interventions that will inspire our students, and we believe that Fast ForWord is and will continue to be an important part of these offerings."
About Duval County Public Schools
Duval County Public Schools, located in Jacksonville, Fla., serves approximately 130,000 students in 165 schools and alternative learning centers. It is the 19th-largest school district in the United States.
About Scientific Learning Corporation
Scientific Learning produces the patented Fast ForWord® family of products, a series of computer-delivered intervention products that build learning capacity by developing the neurocognitive skills required to read and learn effectively. These foundational skills are built through a series of brain-based exercises that create fast, effective, and enduring results. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscience and cognitive research, the Fast ForWord products use patented technology and applications of validated neuroscience principles to help children, adolescents, and adults build the language and reading skills widely recognized as the keys to all learning.
The exercises align with the scientifically based reading-research guidelines and the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. The efficacy of the products has been confirmed by more than 200 independent research studies.
For more information about Scientific Learning and its products, visit our Web sites at www.scientificlearning.com and www.brainconnection.com, or call toll-free 888-452-7323.
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 expected activities on the part of the school district. 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: scheduling concerns, availability of school district resources and other risks detailed in the Company's SEC reports.
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