About What Kidsa are Reading 2025 Our very own Gene Kerns penned the Introduction to this year's report, which shares the reading habits of 5 million K--12 students, from 21,259 schools across all 50 states and DC, who read 173 million books during the 2023--2024 school year. This year's report explores the importance of kids spending 15 minutes on reading practice daily--a manageable amount for busy readers that our data show is the sweet spot to see real gains in terms of literacy achievement and vocabulary exposure. Two new report features highlight our findings, The Magic of 15 Purposeful Minutes spread on pp. 8--9, and the research questions and answers found in our four new Inspired to Read spreads kicking off each section of the report: What Kids are Reading is organized by grade range, with each section beginning with an Inspired to Read spread bursting with reading motivation. At the top of these pages, we've included two book lists: (1) Recognizing Resilience, featuring an array of stories whose characters display grit and tenacity, allowing readers to feel seen as well as broaden their understanding and empathy for others, and (2) Series Sets, where we've highlighted a book series for each grade level that was read by students who also favored a series from the Top Print list for that grade. Spanning the bottom of these pages, we explore The Magic of 15 Purposeful Minutes by examining the impact of kids spending just 15 minutes per day reading, using data from our Accelerated Reader database for the 2023--2024 school year. The following page begins with a Teacher Recommendation, from a reading survey conducted in January 2025 of educators spanning all grade levels, who answered a short series of questions regarding student book reading. Then, a map displaying Signature Books, that ranked higher in popularity in each state than they did nationwide, and four Fresh Finds, comprising books that kids first quizzed on during Fall 2024. Each individual grade level includes a Highest Rated book that received the most stars from kids in that grade who opted to rate books on a 4-point scale after reading and quizzing. Next up, two ranked booklists, Top Print (from Accelerated Reader) and Popular Digital (from myON), both display books by series, where appropriate, to allow as many unique authors and titles on the lists as possible. The myON books also do not repeat from grade to grade to include even more distinct titles. Finally, each grade level features a curated list of Authentic Spanish texts. The Full Report and additional information is available online: <https://www.renaissance.com/wkar>.

The International Certification of Evidence of Impact in Education (ICEIE) has granted Renaissance's Freckle for Math the Silver badge (ESSA Tier 2) for Efficacy in enhancing learning outcomes.The full certification is available online: <https://eduevidence.org/products/>.

This whitepaper introduces the Renaissance Star assessment Biliteracy Trajectories Project, The full whitepaper is aavailable online: <https://renaissance.widen.net/s/vtlslkjdns/809564-biliteracytrajectories-whitepaper>.

This large Freckle for Math study involved more than 250,000 students from Grades 3-5 and examined Freckle for Math usage and growth in general math ability (Star Student Growth Percentile) over the fall-to-spring period in the 2022-2023 school year. Students in grades 3-5 who used Freckle for Math at or above recommended levels experienced significantly greater growth than students using the program below recommended levels or not at all, particularly if the recommended usage spanned a larger portion of the school year. Using Freckle for Math at or above recommended usage levels promoted significantly greater growth among students in different educational settings (e.g., urban/suburban/rural, economically disadvantaged school classified as Title I), and among students using the program in small groups and large groups. Using Freckle for Math at or above recommended usage levels also promoted significantly greater growth for students of differing characteristics, including at risk students who struggle with math and English Language Learners.The full study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67897>.

This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Texas' state test (STAAR Spanish) and Star Reading Spanish and Star Math Spanish Unified Scale Scores.The Full Report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R62044>.

From the Introduction: "To provide optimal power and usefulness within our Star Assessments and many of our practice products, Renaissance takes a unique approach to content creation through the development of custom learning progressions. In general, learning progressions are descriptions of successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about key disciplinary concepts and practices across multiple grades, which outline intermediate steps toward expertise (Pellegrino, 2011). Learning progressions lay out in words and examples what it means to move toward more expert understanding (Wilson & Bertenthal 2005) in a subject area. While not unlike a traditional scope and sequence, learning progressions are far more thoughtfully developed and emphasize a holistic, cross-grades focus."The Full Report is available online: <https://renaissance.widen.net/s/jdm9kgx5cw/780549-lpfocusskills-whitepaper>.

From the introduction: "In the spring of 2024, Renaissance undertook a special study to gather further reliability and validity evidence for its four Star CBM rapid automatic naming (RAN) measures. These four assessments measure a student’s ability to rapid name colors (Rapid Color Naming (RCN), pictures (Rapid Picture Naming (RPN)), letters (Rapid Letter Naming (RLN)), and numbers (Rapid Number Naming (RNN)). The four RAN measures each have two test forms and are offered in grades K through 3."The study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67673>.

This document contains updated classifaction accuracy for Star Early Literacy.The study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67671>.

The purpose of this study was to statistically link the Star Reading unified scale to the Ohio State Test (OST) reading subscore scale to establish a score equivalent to the promotion benchmark of 50. As an approved alternate assessment, schools may use the Star Reading Third Grade Proficiency Assessment as evidence of meeting the benchmark. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R60626>.

This technical report contain a linking study between the Wisconsin Forward Exam and FastBridge aMath and aReading.The study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67838>.

This technical report contain a linking study between the Minnesota Coprehensive Assessment III and FastBridge aMath and aReading.The study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67837>.

From the abstract: "The present study compared the diagnostic accuracy of a single computer adaptive test (CAT), Star Reading or Star Math, and a combination of the two in a gated screening framework to predict end-of-year proficiency in reading and math. Participants included 13,009 students in Grades 3-8 who had at least one fall screening score and end-of-year state test score in reading and math. First, diagnostic accuracy statistics were evaluated for a single screening measure to predict proficiency on end-of-year tests. Second, a gated screening framework was simulated to examine the diagnostic accuracy of a combination of screening measures (i.e., scores from the CATs and the end-of-year test). The diagnostic accuracy of each screening method was compared. Results suggest that diagnostic accuracy did not improve for the gated screening method when compared to the single screening method. The gated screening method tended to yield low sensitivity values (M?=?0.42, range?=?0.3-0.48) and high specificity values (M?=?0.97, range?=?0.9-0.99). The only condition to reach acceptable sensitivity and specificity (>0.70) was a single reading screener predicting reading outcomes. Sample specific cut-scores from receiver operating curve (ROC) analyses led to improved diagnostic accuracy outcomes relative to all other methods."Citation: Forcht, E. R., & Van Norman, E. R. (2024). Comparison of screening methods for computer adaptive tests to predict reading and math performance. Psychology in the Schools, 61(4), 1590–1610The full article is available online: <https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.23132>.

From the abstract: "Renaissance contracted with LearnPlatform, a third-party edtech research company, to examine the impact of Freckle usage on student math outcomes. LearnPlatform designed the study to satisfy Level II requirements (Moderate Evidence) according to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)."The full study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67497>.