By Tyler Hargett for the FCT

When it comes to elementary school, one of the main things some students struggle with is reading. While some seem to pick up on pronouncing words like natural scholars, there are others who have trouble catching up. In helping a student learn to read, it is always good to have a little extra help available to the student aside from classroom teaching. This is where Fast ForWord steps in.

According to Robin Pharr, Franklin County administrative assistant and special education, state assessment and counseling coordinator, the Fast ForWord reading program, which is being implemented into all local district elementary schools, acts as an online reading intervention for students with special needs and English Language Learner students, as well as students who struggle in reading. Developed by Scientific Learning, the program does not replace the reading classes in the classrooms but instead focuses on helping the students improve memory, processing, language, attention, sequencing and phonemic awareness (the ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words) skills.

To supply early services for a targeted group of students, web-based licenses (which are essential to each student who will access the program) were purchased with limited CEIS funds. A review was done to decide the best fit for program effectiveness. District and school administrators worked with the system’s instructional coaches to determine the final selection of students within the target range. Schools then had the opportunity to buy additional licenses with local money.

A number of teachers, instructional coaches, aides, administrators and librarians from all district elementary schools have been trained to facilitate the program within their schools.

“I would like to thank the principals, teachers and staff in our district who work hard every day to provide quality instruction to all students,” said Pharr. “Because of Fast ForWord and other district initiatives, students throughout the district have shown gains in the area of reading.”

The program was first introduced to Franklin County a few years ago when Phil Campbell High School alumnus Keila Morse, who had gone on to be an educational salesperson for Scientific Learning, visited with some of the district administrators, including Pharr. She discussed the program with them, hoping to make the county familiar with it by sharing her passion about its effectiveness. Several teachers were invited to Muscle Shoals for a training event, and they returned excited about the program and how it could benefit their students. Once the funding was available, the county began implementing the program.

In the beginning, there were eight reading licenses for Vina Elementary School; however, there were more students who could benefit from the program. So, Paula Jackson, the school’s elementary reading specialist and manager of their Fast ForWord program, decided to apply for a grant from the Franklin County Community Development Commission to help purchase more licenses. Once it was approved, there was enough money to buy five more licenses, enough for all of the 13 Vina students in the program.

“Vina Elementary School gives the Franklin County Commission Office a great big thank you for this funding,” said Jackson. “So far, we have seen significant improvement with the students who are using the program.”

The program has also proven successful in schools across the nation. More than 250 research studies have shown that Fast ForWord can help students improve their reading and language skills by up to two grade levels in as little as three months, simultaneously increasing performance across all areas of stu