Star Preschool - Comparisons and Growth

For each measure, the Comparisons and Growth page shows you the percentage of students whose screening assessments are in each benchmark category. It also shows you what percentage of students in the applicable grades haven't been screened.

Once you view overall data, you can choose to compare schools, compare classes, or view a list of students in a specific benchmark category (or students who haven't been screened.)

How to Go to the Comparisons and Growth Page

On the Star Preschool Assessment Dashboard, select the Reports menu at the top of the page. Then, select Comparisons & Growth.

Choosing the Data to View

Use the drop-down lists at the top of the page to choose the data that you want to view.

If you have access to more than one school, use the School drop-down list to choose either "All Schools" or a specific school. If you choose a specific school, you'll see a Class drop-down list; use it to choose either "All Classes" or a specific class. If you only have access to one school or class, the item you can access is selected automatically, and you can't make other selections.

Next, use the Grade drop-down list to choose whether to see data for all grades, just Early Education and Pre-kindergarten (EE and PK), just Early Education, or just Pre-K.

Use the Screening Window drop-down list to choose whether to see data for Fall, Winter, or Spring; the dates for each screening window are shown in the drop-down list. Since this page shows data from the current school year only, during the Fall screening window, no other selections are available.

In the Assessment Type drop-down list, English Literacy is selected automatically; no other options are available.

After making your selections, select Update under the drop-down lists.

What Does the Comparisons and Growth Page Show?

For each Early Literacy measure, the page shows the percentage of students who scored in each benchmark category on their screening assessments. Each graph also shows the percentage of students in the selected Star Preschool classes(es) who have not been screened.

How the Grade selection affects the measures listed and the percentages:

• If you selected Early Education in the Grade drop-down list, you'll see the Early Education Measures: Alphabet Knowledge I, Oral Language, and Phonological Awareness I. If you selected Pre-K, you'll see data for Alphabet Knowledge II, Comprehension, Oral Language, and Phonological Awareness II. If you selected EE and PK or All Grades, you'll see data for all measures and the selected grades.
• If you selected "All Grades" in the Grade drop-down list, students in Star Preschool classes who are in grades K and above are included in the percentages for Pre-kindergarten measures: Alphabet Knowledge II, Comprehension, Oral Language, and Phonological Awareness II. They are not included in percentages for Early Education measures.

If you unassigned measures for some students, the students are not included in the data for those measures.

About the Benchmarks

Scores on the graph are shown in the following benchmark categories. For more about the benchmarks, see Star Preschool Benchmarks.

Green with a check mark means the scores are At/Above Benchmark. The students appear to be on track (Tier 1), making the developmental progress needed to meet long-term goals to be successful in Kindergarten.

Blue with an eye means the scores are in On Watch. More information is needed. Consider this result plus other observations and data to determine whether extra instructional/intervention support is needed for these students.

Red with an exclamation point means Intervention. The students' scores are significantly below benchmark. Consistently offer Tier 2 or Tier 3 instructional/intervention support. Progress monitoring is recommended.

Dark gray with a D means the assessments were Discontinued, either because the students couldn't answer the practice items correctly or because the teacher stopped the assessments because the students were struggling. For more information, see Discontinued Star Preschool Assessments. Note: For Oral Language and Alphabet Knowledge I, assessments aren't discontinued if the student answers the practice items incorrectly.

Light gray with no symbol means that some students in grades K or higher have taken the assessment, so no benchmarks are available for those assessments.

White with a dashed line shows you the percentage of eligible students who haven't taken the assessment. For Alphabet Knowledge I, Oral Language, and Phonological Awareness I, this includes Early Education students in Star Preschool classes who have not taken the assessment. For other measures, this includes Pre-K students and higher grades who are in the selected Star Preschool class(es).

Choosing How to List the Measures

By default, the measures are listed alphabetically. Using the options above the graphs, you can choose to sort the measures by the percentage of students in the Intervention category (with the highest percentage first) or by the percentage of students in the At/Above Benchmark category.

Comparing Data for Schools or Classes

If you have access to multiple schools and you've chosen to see data for all of those schools, you can compare data for a measure across schools. Do one of the following:

• Select the measure name in the list. This will open the Compare Schools page with that measure selected.
  
• Select Compare Schools next to "English Literacy." This will open the Compare Schools page with the first measure selected.
  

For more information, see Star Preschool Compare Schools View.

If you have one school selected and you've chosen to see data for all classes, you will see the Compare Class link instead, and clicking a measure name will take you to the Compare Classes page.

No comparison links are available when you are viewing data for one school and one class.

Seeing a List of Students in a Category

To see a list of the students in any category (including students not assessed yet), click that portion of the graph.

Printing or Saving the Dashboard

To print the Comparisons and Growth page, or to save it to a PDF, select Print or Save under the drop-down lists. Then, choose a printer, or choose the option to save as a PDF.

Downloading Data to a File

To download your assessment results to a file that can be opened in spreadsheet programs, select Download Data. A .csv (comma-separated value) file will be downloaded to your computer.

For each assessment measure and the selected school(s), the file includes this data:

• client ID for your site
• school name or "All Schools"
• grades selected
• screening window (fall, winter, or spring)
• assessment type (English Literacy)
• measure name
• the percentage and number of students in each category (Discontinued, Intervention, On Watch, At/Above Benchmark, and Not Assessed)

Choosing the Language to View the Page in

At the top of the page, you can choose whether to view the page in English or Spanish (Español). Select the link for the language you prefer.

Going to the Assessments Dashboard or the Class Growth Report

Select Assessments Dashboard in the top right corner of the page to go to the Assessments Dashboard for the class.

To open the Class Growth Report instead, select the Reports menu, then Class Growth.