About What Kids are Reading 2026 This year’s report is based on reading data for the 2024–2025 school year for 4.7 million kids who read 161 million books at 19,962 schools and the 1.5 million kids who spent 545,888,348 minutes reading digitally. What Kids Are Reading displays popular books by grade range, by grade level, and—new this year—for Growing Readers (kids who started the year with low reading achievement but finished with exceptionally high growth). Two research spotlights dig further into the data to share what we know about How Kids Are Reading and our Insights on Growing Readers. Dr. Tiffany P. Hogan, a Professor at MGH Institute of Health Professions and Research Associate at Harvard Medical School, wrote the introduction to the report. The Full Report and additional information is available online: <https://www.renaissance.com/resources/what-kids-are-reading/>.

From the abstract: "Academic screener tools are commonly used within the context of multitiered systems of support, and it is expected that they have a high standard of technical adequacy, including reliability and validity evidence. In United States school systems, there are large numbers of students who speak languages other than English with varying levels of proficiency, and it is imperative that well-developed academic screening tools be accessible to active bilingual users/users of English (ABLE) in languages beyond English. This review evaluated the translation process, norming data, and National Center on Intensive Interventions (NCII) standards of academic screening tools that were available in the fall 2023 in early literacy, reading, and math in languages other than English. Information was coded using a rigorous, double-coding process. Findings revealed that academic screening tools for ABLE students are available only in English and Spanish. Very few academic screeners met development criteria for translated measures or met convincing evidence standards established by the NCII. Academic screening conducted in languages other than English is severely constrained by limited availability of high-quality measures. Additional effort should be devoted to developing new measures and appropriately translating and trans-adapting existing measures for ABLE students." Includes Star Alfabetización temprana, Star CBM Lectura, Star Lectura, and Star Matemáticas Citation: Huenergarde, M. C., Floyd, R. G., Harris, B., & Moreno, J. (2026). A systematic review of academic screening tools for active bilingual learners/users of English. Psychology in the Schools, 63(2), 314–331.

From the introduction: "In the fall of 2025, 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." This October 2025 report is reading only.The full study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R68971>.

To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Iowa Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from Iowa's achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Iowa's state tests (ISASP) and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R52870>.

To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Tennessee Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from Tennessee's achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Tennessee's state test (TCAP) and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R52834>.

To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Arkansas Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from the ATLAS achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking ATLAS and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R45710>.

EduEvidence, formerly 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/>.

EduEvidence, formerly 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), 1590–1610.The full article is available online: <https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.23132>.