To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Washington Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from the Smarter Balanced achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Smarter Balanced Asessments and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R45817>.

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>.

From the abstract: "As long as American public school students continue to take tests, those in the field of educational measurement who develop and use tests are exhorted to uphold high standards of practice. For testing experts working in public school districts, this means being very clear about the purposes of various assessments and then being able to describe and produce evidence of validity for those purposes. This paper considers challenges to the validity of the Star (Star Math and Star Reading) and Smarter Balanced assessments on the grounds of content and anomalies in administration. It then examines correlations between the test scores as evidence of validity. The results show strong correlations." Citation: Monpas-Huber, J. B. (2015). Just pressing buttons? Validity evidence for the STAR and Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments. The WERA Educational Journal, 8(1), 39-44.The full article is available online: <https://jackbhuber.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/just-pressing-buttons.pdf>.

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>.