Bridging the Lab and Classroom: Innovations in Dyslexia Screening through a Research-Practice Partnership Model

• In Event: Leveraging Research-Practice Partnerships to Develop Open-Access and Scalable Reading Assessments: Rapid Online Assessment of Reading

Abstract

This talk introduces the vision, mission, and development of the Rapid Online Assessment of Reading (ROAR), a scalable, open-access platform designed to assess foundational reading skills efficiently and equitably. ROAR was designed to be silent, automated, and group-administered, reducing the burden on educators while maximizing scalability. ROAR emerged from over a decade of interdisciplinary research drawing on cognitive neuroscience, educational psychology, and literacy development to create a suite of automated, lightly gamified, and psychometrically sound assessments. What made this ambitious project both possible and sustainable was a deeply embedded research-practice partnership (RPP) model, which guided every phase of ROAR’s design, implementation, and validation process.
Bringing Collaborators into the Lab: A research-practice partnership (RPP) model
ROAR seeks to bridge the gap between research and classroom practice. Our RPP model allowed practical concerns of practitioners and researchers alike to be addressed iteratively in real school settings while maintaining rigorous standards for psychometric validity. Through long-term collaborations with districts and educators, our team was able to identify the pain points in existing assessment systems and co-develop ROAR to meet real-world instructional and screening needs. Each ROAR measure is validated both “in the lab,” using established diagnostic tools, and “in the classroom,” in collaboration with district partners using their standard practices. This dual approach ensures that the tools meet the highest scientific standards while remaining relevant and usable in day-to-day educational contexts.
For instance, strong, trusting partnerships with schools allowed us to refine ROAR-Word—one of the ROAR’s core assessments. These collaborators embraced the experimental nature of early versions—despite longer testing times, technical hiccups, and the risk of frustration—with the shared goal of improving screening for all. This long-term collaboration has brought one of ROAR’s core apps (ROAR-Word) to its current stage: a validated screener used in multiple states, adapted across languages, and contributing to both practice and public science. Other talks in the symposium also demonstrate how ROAR has evolved throughout the years, often in response to concerns or requests from our school or district partners demonstrating the reciprocal nature of these partnerships.
Innovations in Dyslexia Screening
A key application of ROAR has been its use as a dyslexia screener, offering an alternative to traditional tools that often rely on one-on-one, verbal administration. ROAR’s foundational reading measures—such as phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, word and pseudoword reading, and reading fluency—allow for efficient group-based screening beginning in the spring of kindergarten. By assessing the core components of early literacy that align with evidence-based definitions of dyslexia, ROAR provides early risk identification while minimizing bias and maximizing accessibility. By organizing its dyslexia battery into validated intervention targets and supplemental predictors, ROAR supports both immediate instructional action and long-term research into individualized intervention pathways.

Author

• Jason D Yeatman, Stanford University