Blended Learning

Mississippi District Named National Reference Site for Use of Blended Learning Tools

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 01/12/16

The Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District (SOCSD) has been named a National Reference Site by Scientific Learning for its use of the company's Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant blended learning programs.

At SOCSD, 703 students in grades K-10 who scored in the lowest quartile on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) used at least one Fast ForWord product.

"In addition, SOCSD also uses the Fast ForWord program to help struggling students prepare for the state's 3rd Grade Reading Summative Assessment," according to a news release. "In fall 2014, the district used data from the spring MAP test to identify 55 students who would be entering third grade as beginning readers."

"After the initial 3rd Grade Reading Summative Assessment and one retest, 85 percent of students who completed a Fast ForWord product passed that test," said Jody Woodrum, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, in a prepared statement. "Considering that these were our struggling readers, those results are very, very good."

As one of 20 schools and districts named a National Reference Site, SOCSD "will serve as a resource for other schools and districts seeking advice on how to best use the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs to increase students' reading proficiency," according to information released by Scientific Learning. "The district will also participate in research to help Scientific Learning enhance the effectiveness of its products and services."