The Opportunities and Challenges of Digital Assessments in Low-Resource Settings: Evidence from Measuring Reading Fluency in Brazil

Reading fluency is a critical component of literacy. Rapid and reliable measurement can inform timely decisions to support students falling behind – from differentiated instruction to additional public funds –; yet, conventional methods of assessing reading fluency face significant challenges related to costs, required expertise, and accuracy, especially in low-resource settings. This study explores the opportunities and challenges of digital assessments in these settings by adapting and validating a silent single word reading and sentence reading fluency assessment (the Rapid Online Assessment of Reading, ROAR) to Brazil. Conducted with 2,651 first- to fifth-graders, the study confirms successful adaptation through patterns observed in test-retest reliability, the grade progression of assessed skills, and validation against conventional standardized exams. Compared to widely used analog assessments like EGRA, ROAR stands out for its scalability, cost-effectiveness, and ability to deliver immediate, actionable feedback without the need for human scorers or complex infrastructure. We further document that it reveals insights hidden by conventional tests, in particular when it comes to socioeconomic gaps in reading ability. Success was, however, contingent on multiple adaptations to the local context, including fine-tuning pseudowords and sentences’ generation as well as trial length to language specificities, managing connectivity constraints, and overcoming staff training challenges.