A Nova Scotia 6th grader makes jaw-dropping progress
Jordyn Webster is just like any other 6th grader. She loves Taylor Swift, candy, and pink things—like the pink pineapple-shaped cup she recently “bought” from her teacher’s prize bin.
But the 11-year-old Nova Scotian is anything but ordinary. In just eight months—from January to September 2024—Jordyn made over three years of English language reading gains. This was while she was enrolled in a French immersion program and only receiving 30 minutes of instruction in English per day!
“We’re very proud and somewhat surprised,” said Jordyn’s dad, James Webster. “But not overly surprised,” he added with a smile.
From intervention to acceleration
Jordyn’s impressive reading gains are thanks to her unique determination and the Fast ForWord program, an adaptive reading program for grades K-12. Fast ForWord provides intensive, 1-on-1 instruction in foundational language and literacy skills while also boosting cognitive competencies like working memory, attention, auditory and visual processing, and sequencing.
“Normally, Jordyn wouldn't be considered a good candidate for Fast ForWord,” her reading intervention teacher, Mr. Lauchlan Mackinnon, explained. This is because Jordyn has a hearing impairment, and initially, Mr. Mackinnon worried she’d grow frustrated with Fast ForWord’s auditory processing modules.
Sound exercises might initially seem out of place in a reading program. But Fast ForWord’s research-backed activities develop cognitive skills like auditory processing and sequencing that are foundational for reading skills while simultaneously building those reading skills, like sound-symbol recognition, phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding.
Instead of getting discouraged, Jordyn faced the challenge head-on.
“For the first five days, I’d check in with her, like, ‘Jordyn, you doing okay?’ And she just came in every day with a smile on her face and tore through it.”
Jordyn started Fast ForWord as part of a 12-week intensive, working in the program 30 minutes per school day.
“Typically, if a student makes 1 year of reading gains in 12 weeks, I’m dancing in the streets,” joked Mr. Mackinnon. “Jordyn had immediate success and gained over 3 years.”
“Jordyn’s age group has been through a lot—especially with COVID,” added Mr. David Hazelton, Jordyn’s principal at Redcliff Middle School. “And it’d be an understatement to call Jordyn ‘resilient.’ If there’s a roadblock, she tries to figure out how to get around it.”
The fifth grader who began Fast ForWord at a third-grade reading level is now a sixth grader with a seventh-grade reading level.
Leveraging newness to hold attention
Jordyn’s hearing impairment isn’t the only roadblock she faces; Jordyn also has ADHD. But instead of holding her back, ADHD may be one of the superpowers helping her make such impressive gains.
“Things that can keep her entertained and keep her attention are wins,” explained Jordyn’s mother, Dr. Amanda Webster.
Thanks to its computer adaptiveness, Fast ForWord adjusts students’ tasks based on their performance on prior exercises. Because of Jordyn’s early successes with her favorite Fast ForWord activities (like Whalien Match), the program continually fed her new—and more difficult!—tasks to keep her engaged and advancing.
“Fast ForWord is fun, and the characters are adorable,” Jordyn explained. “It’s a good learning experience. When I get some of the harder questions right, I just feel like yes!” she added. “It’s the best at keeping me engaged. I just like it.”
“I get a little emotional thinking about it,” shared her dad, Mr. Webster. “But I can really see why that’s bringing out her strengths. If there’s constantly something new, she really shines, and that’s amazing.”
Cultivating a love of reading
Not only did Jordyn surpass her teacher’s “dancing-in-the-streets” metric by 200%, she continued to make reading gains over the summer—entirely on her own.
“Before Fast ForWord, her teachers commented that she really only wanted to read graphic novels,” Dr. Webster recalled. “And now we’ve got chapter books upon chapter books that she just flies through. We can’t keep them in the house!”
Jordyn explained that before Fast ForWord, she loved reading graphic novels like the popular Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey. “But now I’ve found myself reading this really good series called The Wild Robot,” she shared.
The Wild Robot has a 740L Lexile level, which is 2-3 grade levels higher than Pilkey’s Dog Man series.
“Fast ForWord is probably the most fun she’s had learning to read, without even knowing that’s what was happening,” added Dr. Webster.
Because Fast ForWord is designed to build new brain pathways and strengthen existing ones, students’ reading gains are not only quick, but permanent. Once a student has developed the key cognitive and language skills targeted by the program, they begin using them on their own—just like Jordyn did during her summer break.
One story of many
Today, Jordyn's success is part of a larger story at Redcliff Middle School, where Fast ForWord has helped more students overcome their own unique challenges with reading.
Since implementing Fast ForWord in 2010, Mr. Mackinnon has recorded impressive reading gains in his students with learning differences, including an average gain of 3.1 grade levels in reading over three years, surpassing the overall average of 3.0 grade levels in the same 3-year time span for all learners.
Notably, 81% of Redcliff’s students with learning differences have achieved a 1.5-year gain in grade-level reading, outperforming the overall grade 7 average of 75%.
With the support of teachers like Mr. Mackinnon and the use of Fast ForWord, Redcliff Middle School students continue to prove that there's more than one way to become a strong reader.
Looking ahead
For Mr. Mackinnon, Jordyn's success challenges traditional assumptions about how students learn to read.
"Reading is like a four-legged horse," he explains, "but you don't need to have all the legs to run."
While some might have assumed Jordyn's hearing impairment or ADHD would hold her back, she found her own path forward, relying on her tenacity, determination—and the help of some cute Whaliens—to make extraordinary progress.
"When students come in with a smile on their face, ready to learn—that's worth all the effort," Mr. Mackinnon shared.
For Jordyn, that smile comes easily now, especially when she's diving into her next chapter book.
Kelly joined Carnegie Learning in 2023, bringing a decade of diverse educational experience. Her career includes one year as a high school Dean of Students and nine years teaching French at secondary and post-secondary levels. An AP French exam reader in 2017 and 2020, Kelly holds ACTFL OPI certification and is versed in various world language pedagogies, including TPRS and Organic World Language (OWL). She taught using Carnegie Learning's T'es Branché? curriculum for six years and is still its #1 fan. As a content writer, Kelly is dedicated to highlighting educator experiences and promoting research-backed, data-driven instructional strategies for all.
Explore more related to this authorFast ForWord is probably the most fun she's had learning to read, without even knowing that's what was happening.
Dr. Amanda Webster, Parent
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