READ-Y (Reading Early Assessment Data for Youth) is a free, multilingual early-literacy formative assessment tool with a game-like interface for learners K-3. READ-Y will measure and report early-literacy proficiency in any language for teachers and parents through an easy-to-understand dashboard, and promote research of early literacy by the global research community through aggregated datasets. READ-Y is based on the globally-recognized public domain EGRA literacy test used by 70 countries in 120 languages. READ-Y is being developed with AI through learning engineering methodology and built on StoryWorld’s existing multilingual, multimodal platform developed with over $1mm of R/R&D funding by the US Dept of Education.
Cynthia Harrison Barbera
President & CEO, StoryWorld International Corporation
Cynthia Harrison Barbera is Founder and CEO of StoryWorld International Corporation. Previously VP of Technology at Scholastic, Cynthia launched two K-12 edtech ventures and marketed educational technology to schools across the US. Cynthia pioneered the introduction of broadband technology packaged with high-interest educational content to local schools and served as executive producer for an Emmy-award-winning television campaign on education including development of a non-profit organization for teachers. Cynthia has lived and worked in Europe and China and is the recipient of two US Presidential Awards for her work in education. In addition to StoryWorld, Cynthia currently works with Oakland, CA schools focusing on early literacy initiatives for low-income children in grades K-3.
