Automated Basic Reading Assessment

This project team will develop and test a prototype of Moby.Read, a stand-alone app for handheld devices or tablets. Using Moby.Read, grade school students will read a passage out loud and the speech-recognition software will generate an assessment of oral-reading fluency in real-time. The app is intended to replace face-to-face oral reading assessments done by teachers in order to save teachers time and increase the accuracy of the assessment. At the end of Phase I in a pilot study with 50 students, the researchers will examine whether the prototype functions as planned and if the assessment data generated by the app is accurate and valid compared to experts' coding using a rubric.