Since Renaissance introduced the computer-adaptive Star Assessments twenty-five years ago, we’ve continued to refine and adjust our approach to ensure we’re delivering the very best data and insights to educators.
Several years ago, Renaissance introduced the Star Unified Scale, which offers an improved way to understand student performance over the Star Enterprise Scale. The Star Unified Scale gives educators improved precision and the ability to track progress on a single, linear scale as students transition from pre-readers taking Star Early Literacy to independent readers taking Star Reading.
The Star Unified Scale supports educators using Star Assessments in two key ways:
- The Star Unified Scale provides improved measurement precision on a consistent, common scale across all Star computer-adaptive assessments: Star Early Literacy, Star Reading, and Star Math (English and Spanish versions).
- The Star Unified Scale spans the entire range of skills measured by both Star Early Literacy and Star Reading, making it easier for educators to measure student achievement and growth as students transition from emergent readers to independent readers. Check out the Star Growth Report that shows student performance and growth in one place!
This new scale doesn’t change the content of the assessment; it just provides a more precise and continuous scale on which to measure performance. Think of it like going from needing two rulers to measure early literacy and reading skills to being able to use a yardstick to streamline your measurement of both together.
Now, to strengthen and simplify your Star experience, most districts will see the Star Unified Scale as the default scale in the software starting in the 2021–2022 school year.
You don’t need to wait to see your students’ scores on the Star Unified Scale, however. For any of your Star Reports, you can select Star Unified Scale from the Scale dropdown menu. Try it out when you run your end-of-year reporting to get a sense of how the Star Unified Scale works. If you’re accustomed to looking at reports using the Star Enterprise Scale, you’ll quickly get a sense of the score ranges for your students using the Star Unified Scale.
Keep in mind that if the scaled scores look higher or lower than what you’re used to seeing, it doesn’t mean students did better or worse than before. It’s just looking at their scaled scores on a different scale, or measuring stick. You’ll notice all other scores, like percentile rank (PR), don’t change when you update to the Star Unified Scale.
Due to state-level contracts, educators in some states (i.e., Florida and Mississippi) will not see the default scale change to the Star Unified Scale until the 2022–2023 school year. Educators in these states can still experience the benefits of the Star Unified Scale by choosing it from the Scale dropdown menu.
Please note: Starting with back-to-school 2021, the Star Unified Scale will be the default for educators using Star computer-adaptive assessments. Then, starting with back-to-school 2022, the Star Unified Scale will be the only scale available.
The transition to the Star Unified Scale honors and expands on the fundamental essence of Star Assessments as a powerful and proven interim assessment tool. For more information regarding the Star Unified Scale, please refer to this document, which includes links to a helpful video and more resources.