From the abstract: "The ACCESS assessment is administered to English Learners (ELs) annually each winter to measure their progress toward English proficiency. Star Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs) are a suite of assessments administered 3-4 times during the school year to students in grades K-12 that measure students’ reading and math skills, monitor achievement and growth, and track how well students understand skills aligned to state and Common Core standards. Although some ELs are excused from participation in Star, most take Star Reading and Math. This report examines EL performance on the ACCESS and EL performance on Star within the context of ACCESS performance.."The Full Report is available online: <https://www.philasd.org/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2023/08/English-Learner-Performance-2021-22-ACCESS-Star-Reading-and-Star-Math-August-2023.pdf>. The Full Addendum is available online<https://www.philasd.org/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2023/08/Addendum-English-Learner-Performance-2021-22-ACCESS-Star-Reading-and-Star-Math-August-2023.pdf>.

From the abstract: "In Pennsylvania, high school students are required to take Keystone exams associated with Keystone courses; participation prior to graduation is required for federal accountability purposes. The School District of Philadelphia's Board of Education's Goal 4 is focused on improving the reading and math performance of grades 9-11 students on the Keystones. To track progress toward the Goal, the District examines the performance of students on 'Leading Indicators,' the within-year assessments of reading and math skills administered multiple times between the annual Keystone exams. This report examines the statistical relationship of Winter and Spring Star performance and Keystone performance in 2021-22."The Full Report is available online: <https://www.philasd.org/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2023/03/Analysis-of-the-Relationship-between-2021-22-Star-and-Keystone-Performance-March-2023.pdf>.

From the abstract; "Star Math (SM) is a popular computer adaptive test (CAT) schools use to screen students for academic risk. Despite its popularity, few independent investigations of its diagnostic accuracy have been conducted. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of SM based upon vendor provided cut-scores (25th and 40th percentiles nationally) in predicting proficiency on an end of year state test in a sample of highly achieving grade three (n = 210), four (n = 217), and five (n = 242) students. Specificity exceeded sensitivity across all grades and cut-scores. Acceptable levels of sensitivity and specificity were achieved in grade three and four but not grade five when using the 40th percentile."Citation: Turner, M. I., Van Norman, E. R., & Hojnoski, R. L. (2022). An independent evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of a computer adaptive test to predict proficiency on an end of year high-stakes assessment. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 40(7), 911-916.

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>.

To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Pennsylvania Star Reading Enterprise and Star Math Enterprise schools on the Renaissance Place hosted platform, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from Pennsylvania's achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Pennsylvania's state test (PSSA) and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. Sample Pathway to Proficiency and related reports are also included. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R53794>.

This study compared a computer adaptive assessment (Star Math) and a curriculum based measurement (AIMSweb) for progress monitoring in math. Star Math was found to be a significant positive relation to the outcome measure Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) across all three grades (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade). Results suggest that Star Math is sensitive to students' mathematics growth and support the use of Star Math as a progress monitoring tool for mathematics.Citation: Shapiro, E. S., Dennis, M. S., & Fu, Q. (2015). Comparing computer adaptive and curriculum-based measures of math in progress monitoring. School Psychology Quarterly, 30(4), 470-487.

This paper demonstrates how to calculate and utilize sensitivity, specificity, LR+, and LR- statistics with Star Reading to measure annual skill acquisition and predict performance on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). These calculations can be utilized when making data-informed decisions about students. Citation: Edman, E. W., & Runge, T. J. (2014, September). Sensitivity, specificity, LR+, and LR-: What are they and how do you compute them? Indiana, PA: Indiana University of Pennsylvania.The full report is available online: <https://www.iup.edu/psychology/files/school-psych-files/personnel/runge/sensitivity-specificity-lr-and-lr-v2.pdf>.

This peer-reviewed journal article reported the concurrent, predictive, and diagnostic accuracy of a computer-adaptive test (Star Math) and curriculum-based measurements (CBM; both computation and concepts/application measures) for universal screening in mathematics among students in first through fourth grade. Correlational analyses indicated moderate to strong relationships over time for each measure, with correlations between Star Math and CBM measures across the three assessment periods low to moderate, with the strongest relationships between the Star Math and CBM concepts/application measure. Relationships to the state assessment for math for third- and fourth-graders was found to be stronger for the Star Math measure than for either the CBM computation or concepts/application measures, with the Star Math measure the only significant predictor of the state assessment. Diagnostic accuracy indices found all measures to produce acceptable levels of specificity but limited levels of sensitivity. The study offered one of the first direct comparisons of Star Math and CBM measures in screening for mathematics. Implications of using Star Math and CBM measures in conducting screening in elementary mathematics were discussed.Citation: Shapiro, E. S., & Gebhardt, S. N. (2012). Comparing computer-adaptive and curriculum-based measurement methods of assessment. School Psychology Review, 41(3), 295-305. The full article is available online: <https://search.proquest.com/docview/1197769261>.

DETAILS: Location: 24 U.S. states; Design: Analysis of Reading Practice Database; Sample: 50,823 students in grades 1-12 at 139 schools; Measure: Star Reading; Duration: 1 school year. RESULTS: This study of Accelerated Reader indicated that increased time spent reading leads to gains in reading achievement for all students regardless of prior ability, but only when the reading is highly successful. Regression analysis revealed that the single most important factor influencing both time spent reading and average percent correct is a student's teacher. Students in 2nd- through 8th-grade Renaissance Model- and Master-certified classrooms consistently outperformed students in non-certified classrooms and low-implementing classrooms. Email research@renaissance.com to request a copy of the Full Report. Information about a newly updated version of the report is available online: <http://research.renaissance.com/research/474.asp>.

DETAILS: Location: AL, TX, OK, KS, NV, NC, OH, and PA; Design: Independent, assessment research; Sample: Staff from 12 schools in 8 states; Measures: Direct costs, opportunity costs. RESULTS: Christensen Associates conducted a study to determine the true costs associated with widely used early literacy, reading, and mathematics assessments: Star Early Literacy, Star Reading, Star Math, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), Wireless Generation mCLASS DIBELS, AIMSweb, and the Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI). The researchers interviewed staff from 12 schools in 8 states to calculate the average costs of using the tests. Two types of costs were measured: direct costs (the price of testing materials, licensing fees, and/or fees for access to scoring and reporting services), and opportunity costs (time to administer, score, and report results; time that could be spent on instruction if testing was not taking place). The results confirmed, both in terms of direct costs and opportunity costs, that Star Early Literacy, Star Reading, and Star Math, computer-adaptive assessments, are much more cost effective than DIBELS, other assessments; ranging from approximately one-half the cost of AIMSweb and about one-sixth the cost of paper TPRI. AUTHOR: Laurits R. Christensen Associates.Email research@renaissance.com to request a copy of this study or summary from the Renaissance Research Department.

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>

DETAILS: Location: 24 U.S. states; Design: Independent, correlational, peer-reviewed; Sample: 45,670 students in grades 1-12 at 139 schools; Measure: Star Reading; Duration: 1 school year. RESULTS: To explore whether different balances of fiction/nonfiction reading and challenge might help explain differences in reading achievement between genders, data on students who independently read more than 3 million books were analyzed. Moderate (rather than high or low) levels of challenge were positively associated with achievement gain, but nonfiction was generally more challenging than fiction. Nonfiction reading was negatively correlated with successful comprehension and reading achievement gain. Overall, boys appeared to read less than girls, but proportionately more nonfiction. In the upper grades, boys also had lower reading achievement than girls. Differences between classes in promoting successful comprehension of nonfiction were evident, suggesting intervention could improve achievement. Implications for research and practice were explored. PLEASE NOTE: Email research@renaissance.com to request a copy of this peer-reviewed journal article: Topping, K. J., Samuels, J., & Paul, T. (2008). Independent reading: The relationship of challenge, non-fiction and gender to achievement. British Educational Research Journal, 34(4), 505-524.