"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: KY, AZ, CA, MS, SC, AR, CO, GA, NV, NM, LA, and TN; Design: Independent, correlational; Sample: 118 local model literacy initiative programs; Measure: Star Reading, Star Early Literacy; Duration: 1 school year. RESULTS: During the 2008-09 school year, Save the Children supported several local programs in its model literacy initiative. Twenty of the 118 sites continued to offer literacy programming begun in 2003-04 or 2004-05, fifty-one began operating during 2005-2006 or 2006-07, 19 during 2007-08, and 26 sites operated for the first time in 2008-09. Services at the 118 sites included the delivery of integrated in-school and afterschool literacy activities for children including using Accelerated Reader. This report describes implementation of the literacy model at each site, the characteristics of participating children, and the learning results achieved during 2008-09. During the 2008-09 school year, the proportion of participants reading at a level appropriate for their grade level or above increased. On the initial Star Reading test, 16% of students were at grade level or higher--a normal curve equivalent (NCE) score of 50 or more. The final Star Reading test showed that 29% were reading at grade level. The average pre-post change in Star Reading scores was 5.8 NCEs, which was statistically significant. AUTHORS: Andrea S. Palmiter, Erickson R. Arcaira, Richard N. White, and Elizabeth R. Reisner. Report available online: <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED508135.pdf>

This study sought to find out if there was a correlation between the Spring 2008 Star Math scores and Spring 2008 WASL math scores. A significant correlation between the WASL math test and the Star math assessment was found (r=.67).Citation: Reibel, T. (2009). Exploring the correlation between the Star Math test and the WASL Math Assessment at Wishkah Elementary (Unpublished master's project). Heritage University, Toppenish, WA.The full report is available online: <https://myheritage.heritage.edu/ICS/icsfs/Reibel_Tove_2009.pdf?target=36099166-45b8-4f59-80f4-6416de5148ad>.

This paper contains the research foundation for The Word Up Project,, avocabulary program designed for students in grade 3 to 8.The full report is available online: <https://flocabulary.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs/flat/the-word-up-project-research-base.pdf>

From the abstract: "With the failure of the legislative branch to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law in 2007 and recent reports that more schools than ever are failing to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress, educators are reviewing practices and curriculum. As a result of federal and state laws, it is necessary to identify an accurate predictor of student achievement prior to the administration of the state-mandated test. For this study, student samples were drawn from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade populations of a Northwest Arkansas Middle School. Samples were separated by grade level and ranked according to the grade equivalency on the fall Star Math pre-test and the scores on the spring Arkansas Benchmark Test. A quasi-experimental design was implemented to test both the magnitude and reliability of the independent variable, the Star Math test, on the dependent variable, the Arkansas Benchmark Test. A Pearson r correlation was calculated in each grade level over a three-year period for the relationship between the Star Math and Arkansas Benchmark. A strong positive correlation was found between the ordinal ranks of grade equivalence on the Star Math pre-test and the ordinal ranks of the averaged raw score percent on the Arkansas Benchmark Test. Furthermore, a coefficient of determination, a line of best fit, an analysis of variance (ANOVA), and an Omega-squared were used to determine the statistical significance and develop a triangulation of data. Further study is recommended to predict a specific benchmark score based on a Star Math grade equivalency."Citation: Conner, P. A. (2009). The Star Math test as a predictor of Arkansas Benchmark Test scores. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3372323). The full report is available online: <https://search.proquest.com/docview/305083252>.

From the abstract: "The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a correlation existed between ELL student's success on the Renaissance's Star Reading test, and their success on the reading portion of the WASL. To accomplish this purpose, a review of selected literature was conducted, essential baseline data and information was obtained and analyzed, and related conclusions and recommendations were formulated. Data analyzed supported the hypothesis that there was a positive relationship between spring, 2008 Star Reading scores and spring, 2008 WASL reading scores of 3rd grade MES students at .05 and .01. The hypothesis was not supported at .001." The full report is available online: <https://web.archive.org/web/20170810031506/http://www.heritage.edu/library/mastersprojects/Cyr_Lisa_M_2009.pdf>.Citation: Cyr, L. M. (2009). A correlational study of the relationship of ELL student success on Star and WASL reading tests of 3rd grade ELL students at McClure Elementary School Yakima Washington (Unpublished master's project). Heritage University, Toppenish, WA.

From the Abstract: "A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted of Gordon, Kane, and Staiger's (2006) proposal to raise student achievement by identifying and replacing the bottom quartile of novice teachers, using value-added assessment of teacher performance. The cost effectiveness of this proposal was compared to the cost effectiveness of voucher programs, charter schools, a 10% increase in per pupil expenditure, increased educational accountability (defined as the implementation of high school exit exams), comprehensive school reform, class size reduction, high-quality preschool, and rapid assessment, where student performance in math and reading is rapidly assessed 2-5 times per week. The most cost-effective approach for raising student achievement is rapid assessment, which is approximately one magnitude (10 times) more cost effective than comprehensive school reform, two magnitudes more cost effective than class size reduction or a 10% increase in per pupil expenditure or Gordon et al.'s (2006) proposal or increased educational accountability, three magnitudes more cost effective than voucher programs or high-quality preschool, and four magnitudes more cost effective than charter school." Citation: Yeh, S. S., & Ritter, J. (2009). The cost-effectiveness of replacing the bottom quartile of novice teachers through value-added teacher assessment. Journal of Education Finance, 34(4), 426-451.

Star Early Literacy, Star Reading, and Star Math have been rated highly by the National Center on Response to Intervention as screening assessments. The Full Review is available online: <https://web.archive.org/web/20181224051733/https://rti4success.org/resources/tools-charts/screening-tools-chart>.

Star Early Literacy was favorably reviewed as an universal screening tool for RTI by Juli L. Pool, Ph.D., and Evelyn S. Johnson, Ed.D., for the National Center on Learning Disabilities RTI Action Network. The full report is available online: <https://web.archive.org/web/20240621002507/http://www.rtinetwork.org/essential/assessment/screening/screening-for-reading-problems-in-preschool-and-kindergarten>.

From the abstract: "Benefit-cost analysis was conducted to estimate the increase in earnings, increased tax revenues, value of less crime, and reductions in welfare costs attributable to nationwide implementation of rapid assessment, a promising intervention for raising student achievement in math and reading. Results suggest that social benefits would exceed total social costs by a ratio of 28. Fiscal benefits to the federal government would exceed costs to the federal treasury by a ratio of 93. Social benefits would exceed costs to each state treasury by a ratio no lower than 286, and fiscal benefits would exceed costs to each state treasury by a ratio no lower than 5, for all but two state treasuries. Sensitivity analyses suggest that the findings are robust to a 5-fold change in the underlying parameters." Reference: Yeh, S. S. (2009). Shifting the bell curve: The benefits and costs of raising student achievement. Evaluation and Program Planning, 32(1), 74-82.

From the abstract: "The cost-effectiveness of class size reduction (CSR) was compared with the costeffectiveness of rapid formative assessment, a promising alternative for raising student achievement. Drawing upon existing meta-analyses of the effects of student-teacher ratio, evaluations of CSR in Tennessee, California, and Wisconsin, and RAND cost estimates, CSR was found to be 124 times less cost effective than the implementation of systems that rapidly assess student progress in math and reading two to five times per week. Analysis of the results from California and Wisconsin suggest that the relative effectiveness of rapid formative assessment may be substantially underestimated. Further research regarding class size reduction is unlikely to be fruitful, and attention should be turned to rapid formative assessment and other more promising alternatives." Citation: Yeh, S. S. (2009). Class size reduction or rapid formative assessment?: A comparison of cost-effectiveness. Educational Research Review, 4(1), 7-15. Email research@renaissance.com to request the Full Peer-Reviewed Article from the Renaissance Research Department.

DETAILS: District Profile (McCracken County Public Schools): 6,854 students in grades: Pre-K-12; District Demographics: Rural, Free/reduced-price lunch: 44%; District Race/Ethnicity: Black or African American: 4%, White: 91%, Hispanic or Latino: 2%, Asian or Pacific Islander: 1%, American Indian or Alaska Native: 1%, Other: 1%. Focus School Profile (Concord Elementary School): 423 students in grades: Pre-K-5, Title I. RESULTS: Just 4 years after this district standardized use of Accelerated Reader with best practices, the percent of students at the proficient or distinguished levels in reading on the Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) increased 11 percentage points in 4th grade, 11 points in 7th grade, and 17 points in 10th grade--maintaining higher gains than the state. REPORTING EDUCATORS: Barbara Vick, assistant superintendent; Ann Fendley, library media specialist. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R37030>.

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.