A high percentage of students have considerable reading deficits, not only in Germany, but also in other European countries (Betthäuser et al. 2023; Wallner-Paschon et al. 2017). Therefore, formative diagnostics are essential to record the current learning levels of students so that specific interventions can be shaped at an early stage. This discourse has been intensified in Germany as a result of the significant increase in heterogeneity at primary schools and the disconcerting learning deficits of a large number of primary school children after the COVID-19 pandemic (Stanat et al. 2022). As a result, the German Standing Scientific Commission of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Federal States recommends the early intensification of nationwide diagnostics and the "provision of scientifically based, quality-assured diagnostic instruments and related support instruments" as formative diagnostics to ensure basic competencies (Köller et al. 2022, p. 74). Additionally, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), is not only conducted through a computer-based assessment since 2016, but also has a focus point in digital forms of reading (Mullis & Martin 2019).

In the collaborative BMBF-funded project DaF-L (digital everyday integrated supportive diagnostic - reading in inclusive education) an adaptive, digital and competence-oriented reading screening with adapted reading packages, consisting of reading texts and reading exercises, is being developed, tested, standardized, and subsequently made available as OER on the online learning application Levumi for the third grade of primary schools in Germany. For the project partners of four German universities an essential component in the development and improvement of digital applications is the cooperation between practice and research. Interviews with experts will be conducted in order to advance the reading packages as well as Levumi. The goal is to ensure a direct transfer of research to practice by examining the ecological validity and usability of the instrument as well as the professional development of the partners in the schools with regard to this unique form of the adaptive approach. Ensuing this, the objective is to enable low-threshold, data-based, and effective reading support, to identify conditions for the success of everyday support-based diagnostics and to improve the conditions for inclusive education in primary schools.

The reading packages for promoting reading comprehension in inclusive classes contain reading texts on three ability levels and reading tasks tailored to them. The reading packages are intended to promote the reading skill reading fluently and the reading abilities reading comprehension and strategies for reading comprehension. The ability to read fluently implies that the students can read “quietly, aloud, automatically, accurately, meaningfully, and quickly (KMK 2020, p. 16).” The students have to read texts and solve reading exercises; therefore, they read both repeatedly (Mayer 2018) and a lot (Kruse et al. 2015), thus promoting reading fluency. In the case of reading comprehension, the students read texts that correspond to their ability level and understand the meaning. Skills involve students identifying textual information at the local level, either explicit or gleaned through simple inferencing. In doing so, they also pay attention to linguistic means to ensure the context of the text as well as link text information, draw conclusions, and construct an overall understanding using their previous knowledge (KMK 2020). In the case of possessing strategies for reading comprehension or reading strategies, the students know to use basic cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies after reading. They work with after-reading strategies such as central text statements (KMK 2020).

The global question of how students can benefit from digital reading packages and how the usability of the application can be improved through collaboration between educators and researchers will be explored.

The collaborative project follows a multi-method design. An ABA-design was selected for the intervention study. The study will start in April 2023 until July 2023 and will collect quantitative data of individuals, groups, and classes. It will consist of a survey group (N = 100) and a control group (N = 100). A) It will start with the interviews and the initial testing. The testing consists of the self-developed digital and competence-oriented reading screening and the ELFE 2, which is an established diagnostic test. B) Three weeks later, in the first lesson the students will take a self-developed digital a-version test aligned with the reading packages. This will be the start of the four-week intervention phase. The intervention (reading support) will be three times a week for 30 minutes in a classroom setting. The students will work on their digital reading exercises individually. Students will receive a reading package based on their ability level. During the intervention students’ answers will be saved digitally. At the end of the intervention, students will participate in the b-version of the aligned test as well as a second administration of the competence-oriented reading screening and the ELFE 2. A) A follow-up will be conducted with the ELFE 2. To ensure a direct practice-research transfer, the expert interviews are planned in a qualitative longitudinal design. Through the processual character of the design, the focus on the stakeholders' perspective is intended to improve usability and thus to increase ecological validity. Concurrently, the understanding of diagnosis and diagnostic practices will be examined. For this purpose, qualitative semi-structured expert interviews will be conducted at three different times to accompany the further development of Levumi in consultation with school practitioners. The following research questions will be pursued in the interviews: 1. How do educators rate the usability of Levumi before the redevelopment? 2. What changes would be beneficial from the educators' perspective to increase the usability of Levumi? 3. How do educators evaluate the ecological validity of the newly developed procedures? 4. What diagnostic practices characterize everyday teaching in schools? In spring 2022, initial expert interviews (N = 7) were already conducted and evaluated as a needs analysis (M1). Based on this, expert interviews (N = 7) will be conducted in March and April 2023 to examine the reading texts and reading exercises (M2) in order to support the development of the reading packages as a practicable instrument.

Results from the first expert interviews on the needs analysis (M1) show the necessity of the educators’ participation as users in the development of diagnostic procedures. That way, with the help of a practical research transfer, the usability in support-based diagnostics can be improved and the acceptance of the users can be increased. The results will contribute to the further development of the online learning application Levumi and will be verified through supplementary expert interviews (M2). The outcomes of the study are expected to improve the student's reading abilities. The collaboration and cooperation of educators and researchers for the development and digitalisation of the reading packages enhanced the usability; therefore, the students' reading abilities were additionally supported. Additionally, in general and for the future, the alliance between educators and researchers could be a very beneficial factor for all involved, especially for the students as the collaboration could foster the improvement and implementation of digital tools in the classroom. In the presentation, interviews (M1 and M2) as well as the development and implementation of the reading packages will be illustrated and discussed under the global question of how the students benefit from the digital reading packages and how the usability of the application can be improved through collaboration and cooperation between educators and researchers. These results provide significant value for the development of reading support and the usability of digital applications in the Pan-European context. Especially in context of the increased and perpetuated learning gaps in primary schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, the possibility of transmitting the results to other countries will be discussed.

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