Contract Closed

Localized Reading Assessments for the 21st Century

NCER

Program: Small Business Innovation Research

Award amount: $250,000

Project director: Margaret Opatz

Awardee:

Charmtech Labs LLC

Year: 2024

Award period: 8 months (05/01/2024 - 01/02/2025)

Project type:

Phase I Development

Contract number: 91990024C0003

Purpose

In this project, the team will develop a prototype of a novel scenario-based assessment that generates new localized and culturally responsive items to measure students' reading skills and inform further instruction in reading. Results from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading demonstrated that students in grades 4 and 8 from diverse backgrounds scored lower than other students. To address these gaps and to improve reading for all students, scholars have called for culturally aligned education activities focusing on students' lived experiences.

Project Activities

The team will develop a novel prototype of a scenario-based assessment with components including a wizard to support educators in creating new localized and culturally responsive scenario-based assessments based on factors such as location, grade level, standards, and topics of interest; a backend system with ChatGPT and natural language processing to generate the assessments; and a dashboard presenting results of student assessments to inform instruction. At the end of Phase I, the team will conduct a pilot study with 100 middle school students in 20 classrooms. They will examine if the prototype functions as intended, if educators can successfully create customized scenario-based assessments and review findings on the dashboard, and if students can complete assessments, stay engaged throughout, and perceive that the assessments are relevant to their lives and school learning.