Rocio Raña

Dr. Rocío Raña is the co-founder & CEO of BLAST, an equity-centered technology company focused on improving educational outcomes for bilingual Latinx children. BLAST is a bilingual literacy assessment platform that automatically evaluates bilingual speaking and literacy skills and offers personalized teaching recommendations. BLAST’s data platform helps school and district leaders make informed instructional decisions, monitor progress, and measure program effectiveness. Dr. Raña’s inspiration for this project comes from her experience with her own children who were born in the U.S. and grew up speaking Spanish at home, and it is informed by more than 15 years of experience in literacy assessment research and development. Dr. Raña has received awards from the National Science Foundation and NewSchools Venture Fund. Currently, she is looking to positively impact the life of more bilingual Latinx children by expanding the network of schools and districts that already use the BLAST platform.