What evidence supports Fast ForWord's effectiveness?
Make the most of your precious time by implementing a reading intervention that's proven to work! Explore the evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of the Fast ForWord reading and language program, and rest easy knowing your students will be making efficient reading and cognitive gains.
What Works Clearinghouse
Fast ForWord meets ESSA's Tier 1 standard of strong evidence. For an intervention to be supported by strong evidence, there must be at least one well-designed and well-implemented experimental study (e.g., a randomized control trial) on the intervention. The Department of Education considers an experimental study to be “well-designed and well-implemented” if it meets What Works Clearinghouse Evidence Standards without reservations.
Fast ForWord has 21 studies that meet What Works Clearinghouse Evidence Standards for Adolescent Literacy, Beginning Reading, and English Language Development—the most of any reading intervention evaluated.
Positive effectiveness ratings and improvement indices were found for:
Check out the What Works Clearinghouse intervention reports for:
When compared to other interventions evaluated by WWC, Fast ForWord is the only intervention with positive effects for English Learner and Literacy Outcomes for students grades K-10 in individual, small group, and whole class settings. See the Compare Intervention table from IES.
National Center on Intensive Intervention
The National Center on Intensive Intervention conducted a review of multiple Fast ForWord research studies and documented positive targeted and broad effect sizes for pre-reading and reading outcomes.
State Reviews
Independent reviews by states including Iowa and Nevada concluded that Fast ForWord meets widely accepted criteria for an effective intervention and is a “high-gain” program.
The Iowa Department of Education performed a systematic review of PreK-12 literacy interventions, and Fast ForWord was the only one that met all six criteria: appropriate for all grades K-12, internal validity, external validity, overall findings, alignment materials, and teacher usability.
The Nevada Department of Education conducted a multivariate analysis of the impact of programs on student achievement, and Fast ForWord made the largest average impact of all program reviewed.
Additional Research
You can learn more about the extensive research behind the Fast ForWord program and the hundreds of studies demonstrating evidence for its effectiveness on our website. These studies demonstrate the versatility of the program in a variety of settings and with student populations including those in Special Education, Title I programs, and English Language Learners. https://www.scilearn.com/results
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