Star CBM assessments can be administered by any adult who has some experience working on academic material with students — current and retired teachers, para-educators, academic subject-area coaches, administrators, or experienced volunteers. The only requirement is that the adult can read the instructions aloud to the student and score responses as correct/incorrect as described in the instructions for each measure. No special training is required.
For most measures, there are three ways to administer assessments to students:
- Online: Both the student and the teacher use computers or tablets. The student sees the form and answers questions aloud (except for Receptive Nonsense Words assessments, in which the student selects an answer); if the teacher chooses to record the audio, it is recorded at the student's computer. The teacher sees instructions in addition to the form, and the teacher can start a timer, highlight rows for the student, mark incorrect answers, mark the last item attempted, and enter notes. Note: Teachers and students can be in different locations (remote administration) as long as they can communicate with video and audio; see Administering Star CBM Remotely and the related Family Guide.
- Mixed: The teacher is at the computer. Teachers see the form on their computer and have the same scoring options that they have in the Online format. The student, however, uses a paper form that the teacher has printed. Note that each student is assigned a different form - be sure to print or use the selected student's form. You can either print the student form after you select the format or use preprinted forms and select the assigned form as needed. The teacher may choose to record audio of Mixed assessments; audio is recorded at the teacher's computer.
- Print: Both the teacher and the student are using printed forms. The teacher can mark incorrect answers, mark the last item attempted, and write notes on the teacher form. The student uses the form to answer questions. After the assessment, the teacher enters scores in the software. Since each student is assigned a different form, be sure to print or use the teacher and student forms for each individual student's assessment. You can either print the forms after you select the format or use preprinted forms and select the assigned forms as needed.
For Phoneme Segmentation, there is no form for the student. For that reason, only the Mixed or Print formats are available for Phoneme Segmentation, and only the teacher has a form.
For Encoding assessments, only print assessments are available.
For Mixed format and Print assessments, braille forms are available for some measures for students who have Braille selected in the Accommodations preference. For more information, see Braille Assessments.
Click these links to find out how to administer an assessment using each format: