When Yasmin Barkett approached us to create Royo, an AI-powered guided reading platform, we were excited at the opportunity to revolutionize literacy education. The mission: to seamlessly blend cutting-edge AI with proven reading pedagogy, crafting a truly personalized and engaging experience for every child.
Imagine a reading platform where children become the heroes of their own stories. Where they can choose their favorite animal companion, explore a magical kingdom, or blast off into space – all while learning crucial literacy skills. This is the power of personalization we brought to life.
We dove deep into the Science of Reading, studying literacy fluency and the everyday challenges teachers face. One of the key challenges with generative AI is hallucination risk – the potential for inaccurate or nonsensical output. To overcome this, we went beyond simple prompts, developing a robust technical solution governed by deterministic rules.
The rules every story must adhere to:
- Follow the Science of Reading methodology
- Include key vocabulary
- Maintain a clear narrative
- Ensure grammatical accuracy,
- And, above all, prioritize safety for young readers
We also recognized the power of software to make reading more engaging and rewarding through gamification. So we infused the platform with exciting rewards, eye-catching visual achievements, and a motivating points system. Children are empowered to chart their own progress, unlock new challenges, and celebrate their successes every step of the way. And as AI technology evolved, so did our rules, resulting in even more reliable and engaging stories.Our minimum viable product launched as an AI-powered guided reading platform where students could generate personalized, decodable books tailored to their interests and aligned with the Science of Reading.For teachers, we created a comprehensive, user-friendly dashboard offering both individual and classroom-wide insights into reading proficiency.
This powerful tool helps educators evaluate student progress and effectively manage diverse learners. We also added advanced classroom management tools, including multiple classroom support and curated book libraries, to streamline teachers' workflows.This project showcases the transformative potential of AI in education and demonstrates our ability to build complex, adaptable solutions that evolve alongside rapidly changing technology. By combining cutting-edge AI with a deep understanding of pedagogy and a commitment to user-centered design, we've created Royo: a truly personalized and engaging learning experience that empowers every child on their literacy journey.
Yasmin Barkett
ROYO
About Yasmin
Yasmin Barkett is a teacher on a mission to transform literacy education. After witnessing the limitations of traditional reading programs firsthand, she envisioned Read On Your Own (ROYO) – a platform that merges the Science of Reading with the power of AI to create personalized, engaging reading experiences. Her goal? To ensure every child not only learns to read, but falls in love with it.
25k+
books generated with AI
Ask
Engage young readers with an AI-powered guided reading platform that delivers personalized feedback and generates captivating stories that ignite their imagination. Equip teachers with actionable data to track progress and personalize instruction, ensuring every student thrives.
Approach
Imagine a reading platform where children don't just read stories – they star in them. With a vibrant, playful design, we developed an interactive app experience that invites young readers to create their own characters, explore their passions, and watch as AI magically generates personalized, decodable stories where they take center stage. For teachers, we built an intuitive dashboard packed with valuable insights. Now they can monitor progress, both individually and classroom-wide reading progress, and use the data to support every student’s unique literary journey. And because we know family involvement is key, we added a family view with progress updates and tips for supporting learning at home.
Impact
After rigorous testing and validation from kids, teachers, and parents, our innovative reading platform is ready to make a real-world impact. We've transformed an idea into a tangible product that's now being distributed to schools across the United States as part of an exciting beta program.
“I took my idea to Rare Days and they dove in head first, navigating the waters of AI to build out and launch an MVP within 6 months.”
“I took my idea to Rare Days and they dove in head first, navigating the waters of AI to build out and launch an MVP within 6 months.”
