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.

This white paper contains the research foundation for Renaissance Next. The full study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R68835>.

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 Georgia Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from Georgia's achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Georgia's state test (Georgia Milestones) and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R45876>.

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>.

To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Michigan Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP). This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Michigan's state test and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R53649>.

To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Wisconsin Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from the Wisconsin Forward Exam. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Forward Exam and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R53893>.

To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Utah Star Reading schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from Utah's achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Utah's state test (RISE) for English Language Arts Utah Aspire Pluse Reading and Star Reading scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R52928>.

The Star Phonics Technical Manual, which provides technical information about how the program was developed.The full technical report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67720>.

Each spring, students in Baldwin County Public Schools in Mobile, Alabama, take the ACAP, aiming for a score of Level 3 or above, the state's proficiency threshold. Students in quickly growing Baldwin County increased the percentage of students scoring proficient and above in both math and reading from 2023 to 2024, an accomplishment that educators in Baldwin County attribute in large part to their Freckle implementation. Educators Shawn Kavanaugh (Grade 2, Belforest Elementary) and Cara Dube (Grade 6, Magnolia School) have seen not only growth in students’ math and reading skills but also increased engagement between school and home while using this tool. The full study is available online: <https://renaissance.widen.net/s/tm2dcwt7nl/r68705>.