To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for New York Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from New York's achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking New York's state test (NYS) and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R45858>.

Accelerated Reader is a progress-monitoring system that provides feedback on the comprehension of books and other materials that students have read. It also tracks student reading over time. Currently, more than 180,000 different Accelerated Reader quizzes have been developed and are in use. This report provides reliability and validity data for Accelerated Reader quizzes. The reliability analyses use a large database of nearly 1 million quiz records. Validity is established through correlations with scores from 24 standardized reading tests and through a study that confirms that the quizzes are effective at discriminating between instances of students having read the book versus not having read the book. The report also includes descriptions of the purpose and intended classroom use of Accelerated Reader, descriptions of the types of quizzes, and the processes for quiz development. The report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R35806>.

DETAILS: Location: 19 U.S. states, 1 Canadian province; Design: Correlational; Sample: 29 elementary, middle, and high schools; Measure: Library circulation measurements; Duration: Data spans 2-6 years. RESULTS: A number of research studies document the positive impact of Accelerated Reader on student reading achievement, motivation, and the amount of reading. One would expect that the combination of improved student motivation and teacher encouragement to read would affect library circulation. The purpose of this report was to review and summarize existing research on Accelerated Reader where library circulation was reported, which included 25 case studies, 3 journal articles, and 1 dissertation. The results showed that it is reasonable to conclude that students read more books while using Accelerated Reader, and are perhaps more motivated to read than before their schools implemented the program, so it can be expected that library circulation will increase. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R37737>.

From the study: "The study followed a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design. Eight schools in six different states agreed to participate. One or more teachers in each of the eight schools agreed to useThe Word Up Project during the 2008-2009 academic year. The goal was to determine if the vocabulary achievement of students who received instruction using The Word Up Project increased significantly by the end of the school year."The full ssummary of this study is available online: <https://flocabulary.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs/flat/efficacy-study-summary.pdf>

From the report: "Flocabulary, an educational publisher, contracted with the Educational Research Institute of America (ERIA) to conduct an instructional validation study of its grades 3 to 8 language arts program, The Word Up Project, in eight school sites across the country. Flocabulary sought to determine the extent to which The Word Up Project, a program designed to support students’ vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and critical thinking skills, improves students' language arts skills as measured by state language arts tests."The full ssummary of this study is available online: <https://flocabulary.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs/flat/state-test-study-summary.pdf>

"In the summer of 2009, Flocabulary conducted a pilot of The Word Up Project with After-School All-Stars, a national after-school program that serves underprivileged youth. This particular pilot was conducted at St. John's University and served children from the local community and the New York City Housing Authority.The 97 participants who completed the program were pre- and post-tested on 30 of the words. Since the 30 words were used in differing contexts on each of the tests, participants had to reveal competent understanding of the words' meanings by post-test time. The results indicated that participants increased from a mean of 13.64 words to 20.71 words at an average increase of 7.07 vocabulary words." The full report is available online: <https://flocabulary.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs/flat/asany-assessment-flocabulary-2009.pdf>

DETAILS: Location: New York, NY; Denver, CO; and Monroe, LA Design: Independent, correlational; Sample: 10,617 students in grades 1-12 at 43 schools; Measures: Star Reading, Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP), Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP); Duration: 1 school year. RESULTS: The Carmel Hill Fund Education Program uses Accelerated Reader as its primary means to help schools improve. A collaboration between The Carmel Hill Fund and Renaissance's Research Department, this report examines the impact of Accelerated Reader on student achievement and teacher and principal opinions during the 2005-2006 academic year. Findings were confirmed by an independent, external statistician. Overall, data from Accelerated Reader, Star Reading, the CSAP, the LEAP, and educator surveys indicated that Carmel Hill is successfully helping disadvantaged schools improve student reading performance. Report available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R38852>

DETAILS: School Profile: 270 students in grades Pre-K-8; Demographics: Inner city, urban; Race/Ethnicity: Black/African American: 57%, Hispanic/Latino: 43%; Measure: Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS); Duration: 2001-2003. RESULTS: With the financial support of William Ruane, a well-known philanthropist in New York City, Saint Paul School began implementing Accelerated Reader in 2001. This included hiring a reading specialist and hosting an on-site training seminar for teachers on Accelerated Reader best classroom practices. During the 3 years of Accelerated Reader implementation, the school experienced consistent and steady growth in academic achievement. From 2001 to 2003, students in grades 2 through 7 gained an average of 10 percentiles on the reading portion of the ITBS, and library circulation quadrupled. During the 2002-2003 school year, each student read an average of 158 books. REPORTING EDUCATORS: Agnes Sayaman, principal; Emily Severance, reading specialist. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R32975>.

DETAILS: School Profile: 160 students in grades: pre-K-6; Demographics: Inner City, Urban, Free/reduced lunch: 88%, Mobility: 34%; Race/Ethnicity: Black/African American: 98%, White:1%, Hispanic or Latino: 1%. RESULTS: After using Accelerated Reader with best practices for 4 years, 4th- and 5th-grade Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading scores improved by 40 and 41 percentile points. REPORTING EDUCATOR: Sister Mary Marvin, principal. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R12813>.

DETAILS: School Profile: 1,067 students in grades K-4; Demographics: Rural, Title I, Free/reduced lunch: 42%, ESL: 4%, Minorities: 9%. RESULTS: After using Accelerated Reader with best practices, the number of students meeting or exceeding the standard of excellence in reading on state DRP reading scores increased by 20%. REPORTING EDUCATOR: Cindy Pileggi, teacher. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R40702>.

DETAILS: Location: Throughout the US; Design: Independent, peer-reviewed; Sample: 659,214 students in grades K-12 at 2,193 schools; Measure: Accelerated Reader data. RESULTS: This study provided further evidence of the positive relationship between amount of reading practice and reading ability. In addition to gathering Accelerated Reader data for the study sample, 13,000 schools were also surveyed for the project, and the ethnicity and socioeconomic status of these students were found to be generally similar to U.S. students as a whole. Consistent with other research in the field, the study found that students in the highest quartile practiced reading 3.4 to 4.1 times more than students in the lowest quartile. In addition, the top 5% of readers read 144 times more than bottom 5%. The data also suggested that, on average, amount of reading practice increases until 6th grade and then declines. Finally, it was observed that schools using Accelerated Reader for 4 or more years had a 64% higher level of reading practice compared to schools using Accelerated Reader for 1 year. PLEASE NOTE: The Summary of this peer-reviewed journal article: Topping, K. J., & Paul, T. D. (1999). Computer-assisted assessment of practice at reading: A large scale survey using Accelerated Reader data. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 15(3), 213-231 is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R33255>. For a copy of the Full Article, email the Renaissance Research Department: research@renaissance.com.

DETAILS: Design: Correlational; Sample: Data for 659,214 students in grades K-12. RESULTS: This study of reading is one of the largest ever conducted and collected reading performance data for 659,214 K-12 students. Key findings concluded students spend only seven minutes per day practicing reading, and reading practice declines markedly after 5th grade. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R11830>.