As evidence of Renaissance’s commitment to meeting the needs of emerging bilingual learners, we’ve made major enhancements to our Spanish assessments. Star Reading Spanish, Star Math Spanish, and Star Early Literacy Spanish assessments provide educators with high-quality data and tools to guide instruction for students receiving instruction in Spanish.
Educators can now use the same reports, data, and tools for tests taken in Spanish that they already rely on when testing students in English. This kind of parity means that educators don’t have to stretch to learn how to best serve their bilingual learners. Plus, just like the English versions of Star Assessments, their Spanish-language counterparts can be delivered in school or remotely, making them ideal for schools supporting in class, virtual, and hybrid instructional models.
New enhancements that support emerging bilingual students include:
- Spanish learning progression that describes how authentic Spanish reading skills develop. Renaissance researched and validated the continuum of skills students learn as they build Spanish literacy. You’ll be able to identify the skills students know and are ready to learn in both languages and help chart a path to move them towards mastery.
- Student Growth Percentile (SGP) scores. Using data from millions of Star tests taken in Spanish, we’ve developed Student Growth Percentile scores that indicate how quickly students are growing compared to other students like them–those in the same grade that have a similar test history. This can help you know if the growth students are making is typical, low, or high compared to other students taking Star Spanish. This gives you the opportunity to make sure EVERY student is learning and growing, no matter what their language of instruction, so you can intervene where necessary to help students reach their fullest potential.
- Goal setting and progress monitoring. Whether students are learning in English or Spanish, setting goals helps you track growth and keep instruction on track. Based on research and data from millions of Spanish Star tests, you can now use our goal-setting tool to confidently set reasonable, attainable goals for assessments taken in Spanish.
These new features—combined with preexisting features of Spanish assessments, including multiple scores and reports, norms and benchmarks, and state standards mastery data —help educators support strong bilingual learners and biliteracy initiatives.