Rapid and automated educational assessment through the web browser

Abstract

This proposal seeks to translate new technology developed in the Brain Development & Education Lab into an automated reading ability assessment tool that would be widely distributed to schools, clinics and research labs through a sustainable non-profit model. We offer a unique solution to educational assessment in schools and learning disability assessment in clinics: normative measures of reading ability can be collected through the web browser simply by sending participants a web link. The automated measurement runs as a game in the participant's web-browser, it does not require any special hardware or software, and will run on any personal computer. Moreover, the resulting scores are more accurate and reliable than current "gold standard" assessments that require long, in person testing sessions and trained test administrators. The proposal leverage collaboration between research occurring with children in local school districts (through the Yeatman lab), research occurring in the Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics clinic (through the Feldman lab), and expertise in business development through Matt Glickman (Promise Venture Studios and Stanford Graduate School of Business). By providing broad access to low-cost testing that was previously only available in expensive specialist or clinical settings, we aim to ensure support for struggling readers, regardless of their families' means.