ROAR is configurable for different applications. ROAR-Word can be collected as a quick screener in less than five minutes. Adding ROAR-Sentence provides additional complimentary information for screening in a couple more minutes. ROAR-Phoneme provides diagnostic information on different aspects of phonological awareness that can be the target of instruction or intervention and takes 12-15 minutes. ROAR can be administered to any number of students at once—individually at home or in a clinic, in small groups, a classroom or whole school district —as long as each student has access to an internet-connected computer or tablet and headphones.

ROAR provides a comprehensive profile of foundational reading skills for students from Kindergarten through Grade 12. The score reports show you how many students in your organization need support on each specific skill. Furthermore, the reports provide individual data on each student in a table that can easily be grouped by skill, level of support needed, and more. 

ROAR assessments examine foundational reading skills for students of all ages. Some of the assessments are computer adaptive, so they will give more challenging items to students who are ready for them. Some of the assessments provide different sets of items for students depending on their grade level, such as more challenging texts for older students. The graphics and storylines are omitted for older students. The assessments are generally structured similarly and the scores are comparable across grade levels.

We support schools for free through a Research Practice Partnership model. Read more about our mission to build deeper connections between educational research and practice!

The administration is completely automated – directions are read to students through their headphones, and students respond on the computer. Teachers or guardians may need to help students with logging in. Students may do the assessments in their classrooms as a group, at home, or with a specialist.

For more information on how to administer ROAR please see our Professional Development Protocol. This guide, which takes approximately two hours to thoroughly complete, provides the following:

1. An introduction to ROAR

2. How to administer ROAR with considerations for multilingual learners and students with special needs

3. How to review and use score reports

4. Resources for supporting students with foundational skills

We take research participant data privacy seriously. All assessment data is stored securely and separately from identifiers wherever possible. If your child’s school is engaged in a ROAR partnership, assessment data may be shared back with the school as additional information to support teaching and learning.

We are excited to partner with you! Please fill out the ROAR Interest Form.

This is standard practice, and we are happy to work through this process with you. Please note that Stanford’s lawyers will need to sign off on any legal documents and this process may take some time. We also require our partners to review our Letter of Agreement or Terms of Service.