From the abstract: "As teacher shortages become greater and student needs increase, schools are trying to find ways to implement Tier II interventions to a growing population of students with fewer qualified adults. Many schools are turning to technology-mediated interventions to meet the needs of students. This study compared the effectiveness of the technology-mediated intervention Freckle to teacher-directed instruction interventions on the overall performance of students on their yearly growth on the Fastbridge aMath test. The study found that both interventions had a similar effect on overall performance, with the technology-mediated intervention being slightly less effective for those students that have trouble with self-directed instruction."Citation: Den Hartog, K. (2023). Teacher-directed interventions vs. Freckle: A study in the efficacy of Tier II Interventions [Master's thesis, Dordt University].The study is available online: <https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1171&context=med_theses>.

"EPI's report into education recovery, in partnership with Renaissance, shows that the pandemic is still having an adverse effect on pupils' learning. This new analysis uses Renaissance's Star Reading and Star Maths Assessments to create the largest sample size of its kind available in the country. It finds that primary aged pupils' outcomes in maths remain well below pre-pandemic norms, whilst outcomes in reading have largely been recovered. The report reveals that outcomes for primary aged pupils in maths amounted to just under 1.5 months' worth of learning loss by the end of the most recent autumn term. Whilst outcomes for younger year groups were found to be even further behind pre-pandemic norms, this is perhaps unsurprising given their time in education has so far been defined by the disruption of the pandemic. More positively, average outcomes in reading have largely been recovered in primary schools, this is consistent with results from national assessments last summer. The report also builds on existing EPI research that has highlighted the pandemic to have not impacted all pupils equally. The gap in reading outcomes between primaries with the highest levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and those with the lowest is still around 6 per cent wider than at the start of the pandemic. This suggests that pupils in disadvantaged areas have suffered bigger adverse learning effects than those in more affluent areas. This report forms the first in a series of reports by the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance over the coming year. Later reports will provide further detailed estimates of learning loss and recovery, including regional breakdowns, with the aim of enhancing policymakers' and educators' understanding of the impacts on pupils over recent years, so that future support can be targeted where it is most needed."The Full Report is available online: <https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RecoveringFromTheCovid19PandemicMay2023.pdf>.

These Freckle for math and Freckle for ELA studies involved more than 450,000 students from Grades 1-12 (math) and Grades K-12 (ELA). The studies examined Freckle usage, normative achievement on Star Assessments, and growth in general math or reading ability (Star Student Growth Percentile) over the fall-to-spring period in the 2021-2022 school year. Practice with Freckle was associated with a greater percentage of students meeting Star proficiency benchmarks at the end of the year compared to the beginning of the year, and higher levels of growth in general math or reading ability. These positive outcomes increased as students engaged in practice that met or exceeded Freckle usage guidelines and as students used the program for a larger portion of the school year.The Full Report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R64618>.

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: "This study explored the validity of growth on two computer adaptive tests, Star Reading and Star Math, in explaining performance on an end-of-year achievement test for a sample of students in Grades 3 through 6. Results from quantile regression analyses indicate that growth on Star Reading explained a statistically significant amount of variance in performance on end-of-year tests after controlling for baseline performance in all grades. In Grades 3 through 5, the relationship between growth on Star Reading and the end-of-year test was stronger among students who scored higher on the end-of-year test. In math, Star Math explained a statistically significant amount of variance in end-of-year scores after statistically controlling for baseline performance in all grades. The strength of the relationship did not differ among students who scored lower or higher on the end-of-year test across grades.Citation: Van Norman, E. R., & Forcht, E. R. (2023). An evaluation of the validity of growth on two computer adaptive tests to predict performance on end-of-year achievement tests using quantile regression. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 48(2), 80-89.

From the abstract: "This study tries to evaluate the teaching and learning process of Teaching Functions and Relations of Sets using Nearpod. The purpose of the study is to determine whether Nearpod can be used as a Learning Platform in interactively teaching Functions and Relations between Sets in a Blended Learning Environment. This is a phenomenological study conducted in a Mathematics Class at Marikina Polytechnic College. A lesson was presented and delivered to MAT Mathematics Major students of the Marikina Polytechnic College who also assess and evaluate the lesson based on the implementation of Nearpod in teaching Functions and Relations between Sets. Reflections and Feedback given by teachers were analyzed through a thematic approach. Results show that Nearpod provides ease of access to using different devices and promotes teaching both in online and face-to-face settings. Ease of access of creating diagrams through the Draw-it feature makes teaching and learning g functions and the relation between sets interactively engaging. There are, however, the teacher must be mindful of the risk in teaching relations and function of sets. To avoid it, the teacher must specify the objective of teaching Functions and relations between sets and delivering the lesson efficiently to maximize the potential of the feature of Nearpod. Thus, it is suggested to implement Interactive Teaching using Nearpod not only in teaching Mathematics but in other subjects."Citation: Salansan, K. M., Palmeria, Z. T., Leop, S. M., Boyoro, R. M. E., Mamangon, D. M., Roxas, D. J. B. (2023). Nearpod for mathematics: Realizing functions and relations between sets. IOER International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 5(1), 104-111.The study is available online: <https://doi.org/10.54476/ioer-imrj/551715>.

Frome the abstract: "Accelerated reader (AR) is a computerized reading program commonly used in schools. The program aims to enhance students' reading achievement and encourage students to read more through goal setting and frequent reading practice. A meta-analytic review of the AR was conducted to analyse its effectiveness as an evidence-based intervention for improving student reading achievement, attitude, and motivation. This study investigated potential moderating variables, including publication type, participant, and study characteristics that impact student reading outcomes. A total of 44 studies from peer-reviewed journal articles and dissertations met the inclusion criteria. Participants included 16,653 students enrolled in elementary, middle, and high school. Hedges' g effect sizes measures suggest pretest-posttest one-group AR studies have moderate effects (g = 0.541) while comparison group AR studies have marginal effects (g = 0.278). A meta-regression model of six potential categorical moderators of comparison group studies indicted no significant moderators. Implications and the need for further research regarding evidence-based and culturally appropriate reading interventions are discussed."PLEASE NOTE: The Summary of this peer-reviewed journal article: Tischner, C. M., Ebner, S. E., Aspiranti, K. B., Klingbeil, D. A., & Fedewa, A. L. (2023). Effectiveness of Accelerated Reader on children's reading outcomes: A meta-analytic review. Dyslexia, 29(1), 22-39. is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R66509>.

This Accelerated Reader summary graphic explains the breadth of educational study designs, displays a barometer of study rigor/strength of findings, and pinpoints examples of research supporting Accelerated Reader for each study type. Unlike our competitors, research support for Accelerated Reader numbers more than 180 studies spanning all of these categories and covering a variety of school and students populations.The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R58266>.

FastBridge is committed to providing psychometrically sound assessments that provide valid and fair results for all students. This manual contains the psychometric evidence of the FastBridge Assessments. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R64614>.

This manual describes the design and application of each FastBridge assessment. Each section begins with an overview of the test's purpose and use, followed by a detailed description of the content and design of the assessment and concludes with an overview of the administration and scoring procedures.The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R64613>.

Throughout 2021, Renaissance released a series of reports titled How Kids Are Performing, which estimated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on US student achievement in reading and mathematics during the 2020-2021 school year. Although the incidence of school shutdowns and remote learning is now much lower during the 2021-2022 school year than the prior year, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect K-12 education in myriad ways. This continuation of the How Kids Are Performing report series will serve as a status check, summarizing US K-12 student performance and growth as of the end of the 2021-2022 school year and contrasting those results to the same period in 2020-2021.The full report is available online: <https://www.renaissance.com/how-kids-are-performing/>.

From the results; "This quantitative research aimed to assess the effects of AR as a strategy to improve students' reading achievements and scaled scores. To this end, I collected perspectives from teachers who used AR for their Chinese primary tudents. In this section, I mainly present the results of the data analysis. First, I report the participants' and their students' demographic characteristics. Next, I present descriptive statistics and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test to analyse the effects of AR. Then, I illustrate the results of the correlation and multiple linear regression analyses used to test the relationships between the AR mechanisms and reading achievements. Lastly, the main points demonstrated in the chapter are summarised."Citation: Tan, H., Yang, F., Zhang, H., & Chakraborty, D. (2022, October). Inveestigate the effectiveness of the Accelerated Reader program on primary school students' reading outcomes in China. Monash University.(Email research@renaissance.com to request a copy of this study from the Renaissance Research Department.)

From the Executive Summary: "The goal of this study was to assess the validity of IXL’s Real-Time Diagnostic in both math and reading using a new criterion measure: the Star Assessment. We analyzed math and reading data from students in grades 1-8 attending public schools in a large, suburban Oklahoma district. Within each subject, we found: • Strong, positive correlations between IXL’s Diagnostic and Star performance (all rs = .70) • A high degree of overlap in student proficiency classifications by the IXL Diagnostic and Star Assessment"Citation: Schonberg, C. (2022). Assessing the predictive validity of the IXL Real-Time Diagnostic using Star Assessments as criterion. IXL Learning.The full technical report is available online: <https://ca.ixl.com/materials/us/research/Assessing_the_Predictive_Validity_of_the_IXL_Real-Time_Diagnostic_(Star).pdf>