This document reports research design and analysis of differential item functioning (DIF) for Gender and Race/Ethnicity (American Indian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian) student characteristics for a total of 846 assessment items from the Renaissance Star Early Literacy. (Email research@renaissance.com to request a copy of this study from the Renaissance Research Department.)

Assessment In Special and Inclusive Education is an educational psychology textbook that contains reviews of numerous assessment instruments. The review of Star Early Literacy in the online supplement to this textbook confirms the reliability and validity of the assessment. AUTHORS: John Salvia, EdD, Jim Ysseldyke, PhD, NCSP, and Sara Bolt, PhD.

Assessment In Special and Inclusive Education is an educational psychology textbook that contains reviews of numerous assessment instruments. The review of Star Reading in this textbook confirms the reliability and validity of the assessment. AUTHORS: John Salvia, EdD, Jim Ysseldyke, PhD, NCSP, and Sara Bolt, PhD.

Assessment In Special and Inclusive Education is an educational psychology textbook that contains reviews of numerous assessment instruments. The review of Star Math in this textbook confirms the reliability and validity of the assessment. AUTHORS: John Salvia, EdD, Jim Ysseldyke, PhD, NCSP, and Sara Bolt, PhD.

This study found that there was a strong correlation between Star Reading and third grade communications arts Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores (r=.695). CITATION: Moore, D. J. (2012). A case study of the analysis of factors that occur with reading proficiency in rural district in Southeast Missouri [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Missouri-Columbia.The full report is available online: <https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/33091/Research.pdf>.The Summary of this study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R57666>

To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Indiana Star Reading Enterprise schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from Indiana's Grade 3 reading achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking the Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination (IREAD-3) assessment and Star Reading scaled scores in Grade 3.The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R55914>.

DETAILS: Location: Accelerated Reader hosted customers; Design: Analysis using hosted customer database; Sample: 2,284,464 students in grades 1-12; Measure: Star Reading; Duration: 1 school year.RESULTS: This study of Accelerated Reader was conducted to update the original Guided Independent Reading publication (Paul, 2003) with a larger, more current sample and analyses targeted to recent trends in educational standards and recommendations. Results generally supported the Accelerated Reader Best Practices shaped by Paul's (2003) analyses. Quality (comprehension), quantity (engaged reading time), and difficulty (average percent correct) emerged as key factors to consider in creating successful student reading practice, with quality (comprehension) being most important. Trends indicated that students should strive for high levels of comprehension while challenging themselves to read increasingly more complex text, and that they need to spend about 25 minutes per day reading, which requires roughly 35 minutes of daily scheduled reading time.The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R55777>.

This is the second paper written for Renaissance by writing expert Steve Graham, Currey Ingram Professor of Special Education and Literacy in the Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. In it, Graham discusses why it is so important that students not only learn how to write, but learn to write well, and he includes seven recommendations to help teachers work with students to develop this critical skill. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R42509>.

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: Western United States; Design: Independent, Correlational research; Sample: 32 high achieving students in grade 4 and 5 combination class; Measures: Star Reading; Duration: One school year.RESULTS: The average grade level equivalency and independent reading level growth exceeded one year during one school year. Citation: Strang, W. S. (2012). Using Accelerated Reader to compare the amount of reading with reading growth (Unpublished master's thesis). California State University, San Marcos.Report available online: <http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/10211.8_241>

This study was conducted to determine whether students in need of intervention in algebra could be identified earlier, providing more time for them to receive additional support. Scores from Star Math (taken in grade 8) and the Algebra I End-of-Grade Exam (taken in grade 9) were examined for 200 students from a Midwestern suburban high school. A simple liner regression determined a student's Star Math score from eighth grade was a valid predictor of the student's Algebra I End-of-Course test taken the following year, making the assessment helpful in indentifying students in need of extra interventions.Citation: Smith, M. (2012). A study of the predictive validity of the Star Math test for the Algebra 1 End of Course exam. Maryville, MO: Northwest Missouri State University.The full report is available online: <https://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/researchpapers/2012/Smith,%20Molly.pdf>.

From the report: "The development of early literacy skills for Spanish English bilinguals (SEB) is an important foundation for designing and interpreting assessments and related results with SEB populations. More specifically, understanding the way in which early literacy skills develop in Spanish is crucial when evaluating performance and progress in U.S. SEB preschool-age children. Without adequate knowledge of the ontogeny of early Spanish language and literacy skills, young children in this population who are at-risk for later reading difficulties cannot be appropriately identified and recommended for intervention. Gaining this understanding is especially timely as the population of Spanish-speaking children continues to increase in the United States (Garcia, Jensen & Scribner, 2009)."Citation: Wackerle-Hollman, A., Brunner, S., Duran, L., McConnell, S., Palma, J., Kohlmeier, T., & Rodriguez, M. (2012). The development of early literacy skills in bilingual and Spanish-speaking preschool-age children: A literature review. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota. The research study is available online: <https://innovation.umn.edu/igdi/wp-content/uploads/sites/37/2018/08/TechnicalReport1.pdf>.

This conference presentation describes the use of ATOS for analyzing reading data.Citation: Milone, M., Stickney, E., Sharp, L., & Blythe, D. (2012, April). Practical aspects of readability analysis for informing instruction and policy. Paper presented at the National Council on Measurement in Education Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Email research@renaissance.com to request a copy of this study from the Renaissance Research Department.