What is Implementation Fidelity? It is Scientific Learning’s measure of how well Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant users are following product usage protocols.
In order to maximize a student’s benefit from Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant, users need to have an intensive and persistent experience. This means using the products regularly and according to protocol. The available Fast ForWord protocols are five days a week for 30, 40, 50, or 90 minutes per day. For Reading Assistant, the protocols are 20, 30, or 40 minutes per day (depending on the grade band) for three days per week. Adherence to these protocols helps students build on their daily successes.
This leads naturally to the following question: How do you know if a student is having an intensive and persistent Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant experience?
Our answer is a concept called Implementation Fidelity. Implementation Fidelity measures how closely users of Scientific Learning products are adhering to the recommended usage protocols.
There are three components to Implementation Fidelity:
- Completion Rate
- Attendance
- Participation
Each of these components can be measured at the individual student, classroom, or district level.
Implementation Fidelity components are measured on a scale from 0 to 100%. Scores in the top 20% are considered “Good,” scores in the middle 60% are considered “Fair,” and the remaining scores in the bottom 20% are considered “Poor.”
Scientific Learning Progress Tracker is an online tool to monitor and manage Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant success.
Progress Tracker has reports to help customers track the Implementation Fidelity of their students. For example, one Implementation Fidelity report shows the overall Completion Rate, Attendance, and Participation categories for a district as a whole and for each school in that district.
We have found that a good implementation, on average, leads to 50% more reading gain per year.
Related Reading:
Forecasting ROI from Fast ForWord® and Reading Assistant™ Products
