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 Nearpod the Silver badge (ESSA Tier 2) for Efficacy in enhancing learning outcomes.The full certification is available online: <https://eduevidence.org/products/>.

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/>.

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>.

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: "Flocabulary contracted with LearnPlatform by Instructure (LearnPlatform), a third-party edtech research company, to examine the impact of Flocabulary usage on learning outcomes. LearnPlatform designed the study to satisfy Level II requirements (Moderate Evidence) according to Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)."The full study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R68502>.

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>.

From the introduction: "In the spring of 2023, the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (SC EOC), in collaboration with the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE), partnered with Education Analytics (EA) to complete a level-linking study between the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Assessment (SC READY) in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) and Renaissance Learning's Star interim assessments in Mathematics and Reading, respectively. This report outlines the methodology used by EA and the outcomes of the linking study. The goal of this report is to statistically connect the SC READY and Star assessments' scale scores in grades 3-8 to facilitate further comparisons of proficiency status on these two assessments." The full study is available online: <https://eoc.sc.gov/sites/eoc/files/Documents/2023%20EA%20Linking%20Studies/SC%20READY%20and%20STAR%20Linking%20Study%20Technical%20Report%20Final.pdf>.The brief is available online: <https://eoc.sc.gov/sites/eoc/files/Documents/2023%20EA%20Linking%20Studies/SC%20READY%20and%20STAR%20Linking%20Study%20User%20Friendly%20Brief.pdf>.

FastBridge CBMreading has been rated highly by the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) as academic screening assessment. The Full Review is available online: <https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/ascreening>.

FastBridge Adaptive Math (aMath) has been rated highly by the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) as academic screening assessment. The Full Review is available online: <https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/ascreening>.

FastBridge Adaptive Reading (aReading) has been rated highly by the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) as academic screening assessment. The Full Review is available online: <https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/ascreening>.