To develop Pathway to Proficiency reports for Minnesota Star Reading and Star Math schools, we linked our scaled scores with the scaled scores from Minnesota's achievement test. This technical report details the statistical method behind the process of linking Minnesota's state test (MCA-III for reading and math) and Star Reading and Star Math scaled scores. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R53659>.

From the abstract: "Language skills developed during preschool contribute strongly to later reading and academic achievement. Effective preschool assessment and intervention should focus on core components of language development, specifically oral language skills. The Early Language and Literacy Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) are a set of measures that have demonstrated utility in language and early literacy assessment, evaluation, and intervention studies. The purpose of this article is to describe two studies conducted to build on the existing oral language IGDI, Picture Naming, to increase utility for instructional decision making, particularly within an early childhood Response to Intervention framework. Study 1 outlines the initial development and piloting of potential measures and Study 2 describes the revision and continued analysis of the most promising measures. Results of Study 1 and Study 2 indicate that Picture Naming has continued utility as a measure of oral language skill development and that one newly developed oral language IGDI, Definitional Vocabulary, has potential utility."Citation: Bradfield, T. A., Besner, A. C., Wackerle-Hollman, A. K., Albano, A. D., Rodriguez, M. C., & McConnell, S. R. (2014). Redefining individual growth and development indicators: Oral language. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 39(4), 233-244. The research study is available online: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED605886.pdf>.

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://web.archive.org/web/20220528145134/https://www.iup.edu/psychology/files/school-psych-files/personnel/runge/sensitivity-specificity-lr-and-lr-v2.pdf>.

This is a quick-reference list of the key research supporting Core Progress and is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R57117>.

Accelerated Reader helps teachers accurately match books to students. The accuracy of this match is due in part to the process that is used to analyze the readability of books, the ATOS Readability Formula. This document explains the science underlying this process as well as three recent key enhancements to the formula: Expand the Graded Vocabulary List-from nearly 24,000 words to more than 100,000; optimized grade-level equation that increases validity at the lowest and highest ends of the spectrum, also allowing the ATOS Readability Formula to take full advantage of the new Graded Vocabulary List; and refined formula to estimate readability levels for short passages (of 3 or fewer sentences) with increased precision. AUTHOR: Michael Milone. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R42508>.

From the abstract: "This study examined the effectiveness of using the online digital reading environment (myON) to increase elementary students' comprehension within a reading clinic. Preservice teachers at a four-year university in the Midwest worked one-on-one with 58 fourth-grade students from three schools who were assigned to one of three conditions: print-based text instruction, hybrid instruction consisting of equal time with print and online digital reading environment, and digital-based text instruction. Students participated in 12 tutoring sessions lasting 75 minutes each, consisting of instructional activities targeting their areas in need of improvement. Multiple pre- and post-intervention measures of reading comprehension were collected. One-way analysis of variance results indicated that after controlling for initial reading achievement, there was a main effect for condition on comprehension." Citation: Ortlieb, E., Sargent, S., & Moreland, M. (2014). Evaluating the efficacy of using a digital reading environment to improve reading comprehension within a reading clinic. Reading Psychology, 35(5), 397-421.The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R63036>.

A new method of developing learning progressions is introduced in this paper. This method involves the assignment of psychometrically determined difficulty values to learning-progression skills--and it employs more of a big-data approach. It begins with a bank of data for tens of millions of students representing the measured interaction between learning-progression skills and students at different levels of learning.Citation: Giesy, P., & Borkon, L. E. (2014, April). An empirical approach to developing learning progressions. Paper presented at the National Council on Measurement in Education Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.(Email research@renaissance.com to request a copy of this poster from the Renaissance Research Department.)

Subtext was named a 2014 ON for Learning Award Winner. Subtext received Common Sense's highest rating (5/5) for learning potential and represents the very best of kids' digital media products designed to educate and engage.The Common Sense Media learning ratings program is designed to help families and educators sort through the apps, games, and websites that claim to be educational and find the products that truly deliver on learning potential. Ratings are based on robust educational research from leading minds in both the education and digital media fields. More information about Common Sense Media's learning ratings program is available online: <http://www.commonsense.org/onratings>. The full review of Subtext is available online: <https://www.graphite.org/app/subtext>.

For more than 50 years, readability formulas have helped teachers, librarians, and parents match books to students. Readability formulas use objective measurements to analyze text and predict which materials can be comprehended by individual readers. This concept is particularly important in Accelerated Reader, which emphasizes that students show the most reading improvement if they regularly practice reading within a range of difficulty that is neither too challenging nor too easy. Accelereated Reader uses the ATOS readability formula. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R10054>.

From the abstract: "This chapter reviews the current status of screening assessment for tiered interventions in early literacy for preschool-age children and highlights emerging and needed research in this area. It first provides an overview of shifts in intervention and assessment in early childhood services broadly and early literacy development specifically, and provides a general introduction to the core elements of early literacy development. Next, it critically reviews current approaches to language and early literacy assessment and screening in early care and education. It then identifies the state of knowledge and practice regarding these approaches and discusses challenges to ongoing development and opportunities for future research in this area." Includes reliability, concurrent validity, sensitivity, and specificity for (Individual Growth and Development Indicators( IGDIs), CIRCLE-Phonological Awareness, Language, and Literacy System+ (C-PALLS+), and Get Ready to Read! Revised (GRTR-R).Citation: McConnell, S. R., Bradfield, T. A., & Wackerle-Hollman, A. K. (2014). Early childhood literacy screening. In R. Kettler, T. Glover, C. Albers, & K. A. Feeney-Kettler (Eds.), Universal screening in educational settings: Evidence-based decision making for schools (pp. 141-170). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Summarizes a report by Nelson, Perfetti, Liben, and Liben (2012) that verified the validity of ATOS as a text complexity measure and established new Text Complexity Grade Bands as a pathway to college and career readiness for grades 1-12. Also reports findings from an internal analysis that used Accelerated Reader and Star Reading data from the 2009-2010 school year to compare the effects of reading below, within, and above the suggested guided independent reading ZPD ranges. Results indicated that most reading was done within the suggested ZPD range, which was associated with gains in Star Reading achievement across the school year. Reading above ZPD was rare, but beneficial, as long as students were able to pass Accelerated Reader quizzes. Implications and helpful tools for encouraging more sophisticated levels of text complexity in student reading are also discussed. The full report is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R54882>.

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>.

This paper reports the results of research on the comparability of scores from the existing web-based Star applications and the iPad (iOS) App. This information was also presentioned as "Score Comparability for Web & iPad Delivered Adaptive Tests" at the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) conference in Philadelphia in April 2014 by James B. Olsen, Psychometrician.(Email research@renaissance.com to request a copy of these studies from the Renaissance Research Department.)