The United States spends an annual estimated $1.7 billion a year (Chingos, 2012) on statewide standardized testing and at least $6.7 billion on special education assessment (Chambers et al, 2004). Despite the existence of several widely accepted and used tools for the assessment of oral reading fluency of kindergarten through sixth grade, there are limited comprehension assessment tools for older students, and fewer still that assess in a way that helps the teacher adapt instruction to student needs.  Current methods require the teacher to test a student one-on-one, and neither allow for the data collection and coding of incorrect answers to draw conclusions about students' areas of need, nor allow for a teacher to see growth over a short period of time. Furthermore, existing assessment tools rely on reading-passage based test questions that are designed in a subjective and inefficient manner. To address these deficiencies, Drexel researchers have developed an assessment tool (available through an iPad application) along with a novel test question design process.  The iPad application, which allows multiple students to be assessed at the same time, provides teachers with immediate feedback on student results and provides insight on the student’s progress, even when the student has provided incorrect answers. The researchers have developed a complementary test question design methodology that leverages an fNIR (functional near infra-red spectroscopy) device that is used with students during the design of reading-passage based questions.  The fNIR provides an objective and efficient technique for creating valid and reliable text-based questions.