Renaissance continues evolving to provide educators with additional assessment data and critical insights to measure student performance and growth. We are excited to share the following updates in time for the new school year.
Enhancements to Star curriculum-based measures (CBM)
You’ll find several new features in our curriculum-based measures in Spanish and English:
Star CBM Lectura: New RAN benchmarks
Separate Spanish and English assessments and benchmarks acknowledge and address the unique needs of Spanish/English emergent bilingual students in dual language programs. As part of our commitment to providing an authentic approach to measuring students’ literacy development in both languages, we’ve added benchmarks for all 4 RAN measures (Nombrar números rápidamente, Nombrar colores rápidamente, Nombrar objectos rápidamente, Nombrar letras rápidamente) in Star CBM Lectura.
Including separate benchmarks for students who are responding in Spanish provides educators with the data they need to support each student’s biliteracy journey. Click here to learn more about RAN measures.
Star CBM Math: New Numeral Recognition measures
In response to educators’ feedback and their need to accurately measure students’ math proficiency in relation to kindergarten standards, Renaissance will be conducting a field test for Numeral Recognition 0–20. Field testing will begin back-to-school and will be visible and accessible to all Star CBM customers; no special licensing is needed. Note that reporting is limited to classroom views only while a measure is in field testing. We encourage you to administer these new measures this school year. Click here to learn more about the field test.
Enhancements to Star computer adaptive tests (CAT)
Using the Spanish versions of Star Assessments? Did you know we’ve recently renamed these assessments? Star Assessments in Spanish will now be Star Evaluaciones—a name that honors the Spanish language and reflects the assessments’ authentic design for bilingual learners. The individual Star assessments in Spanish will also be renamed:
- Star Early Literacy Spanish will be Star Alfabetización temprana
- Star Reading Spanish will be Star Lectura
- Star Math Spanish will be Star Matemáticas
Please note that this update only reflects new naming for the Star Assessments in Spanish. The content and design of Star Assessments (English and Spanish versions) did not change.
In addition to the name change, we are pleased to share that Star Alfabetización temprana (previously Star Early Literacy Spanish) now includes an early numeracy domain that parallels the English blueprint, as well as pre-K norms for the first time ever.
Star Matemáticas (previously Star Math Spanish) now includes kindergarten norms for the first time ever.
And, in our continued commitment to recognize and support Spanish/English biliteracy, we recently released our new Star Biliteracy Report. This interactive report allows educators to track students’ biliteracy development.
Star Reading and Star Math
The following updates apply to the Star Reading and Star Math assessments in English.
Updated linking studies for select state assessments
Linking studies connect state summative test scores to interim test scores (Star Reading and Star Math) for the same grade level. The statistical linking helps educators predict whether students are on track to meet grade-level expectations well in advance to the end-of-year state assessment, giving educators more time to make meaningful adjustments to instruction and positively impact student outcomes.
Educators in the following states will see updated cut scores under Goals & Benchmarks and on the Star State Performance Reports. The linking study technical report, provided for each state below, includes details about the research, main findings, and results.
Linking studies for the following states will be updated as soon as state data becomes available. Stay tuned.
- Georgia (Star Math only)
- Illinois
- Oklahoma
- Michigan
- South Carolina (Star Reading only)
For Kentucky educators, please note that new evidence has been published, but no cut score changes were needed.
Linking study technical reports for all states can be found on the Star Assessments webpage (scroll down the page to the section titled, Forecast students’ future performance on state summative tests).
Updated learning progressions for select states
In 2015, Renaissance released reading and math learning progressions customized for every state. The backbone of Star Assessments, learning progressions provide a teachable order of skills in the context of your state standards.
We continue to evaluate and update state-specific learning progressions, based on changes happening in each state. The following states have updated their standards, which will be reflected in the Star software and included in the Star Record Book and the Star Instructional Planning Report.
Reading learning progressions:
- New: Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Virginia
Math learning progressions:
- New: Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, South Carolina, Wyoming
For more information about how learning progressions built for each state help educators confidently guide student learning and growth, view this blog.