Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Log In to the Software?
See Logging In.
How Do I Add My Classes, Teachers, and Students?
How Many Classes Can a Student Be In?
Star Phonics only allows students to be in 1 class at a time.
Note: Multiple teachers can be assigned to the same class in Renaissance software, which will grant them access to that class in Star Phonics.
How Many Schools Can a Star Phonics Teacher or Staff Member Be Assigned To?
Teachers, School Administrators, and other staff who use Star Phonics can only be assigned to one school in your Renaissance software because they can only access one school in Star Phonics. Those who are assigned to multiple schools in Renaissance software will only be able to access one of those schools in Star Phonics. District Administrators can be assigned to more than one school and can see those schools in Star Phonics.
Students Are Missing from Our Roster
Please allow 48 hours for information entered into Renaissance to appear within Star Phonics.
Students or Teachers Don't see Star Phonics on the Home page, or Teachers Don't See Their Classes in Star Phonics
Star Phonics needs to be assigned to the class for the teacher and students. To do this, see Assigning Products to Classes.
What Roles Do Renaissance Users Have in Star Phonics?
Star Phonics receives its users, schools, classes, and class rosters from Renaissance software. These are the roles that each type of user has in Star Phonics:
- District Level Administrators and District Staff in Renaissance software are District Administrators in Star Phonics.
- School Administrators and School Staff in Renaissance software are School Administrators in Star Phonics.
- Teachers in Renaissance software are teachers in Star Phonics.
- Students in Renaissance software are students in Star Phonics.
Renaissance users who are District Dashboard Owners do not have access to Star Phonics.
What Can Each Type of Star Phonics User Do?
District Administrators:
- See all levels of a report (district, grade at a school, class, and student).
- Assess any student in the district.
- Change assessment windows.
- Export student data to a spreadsheet file for either the district or a school.
- Set a category filter for the district or a school to omit skills not taught from reports.
- Select the scope and sequence for the district or a school if the district purchased a custom scope and sequence alignment.
School Administrators:
- See all levels of a report (district, grade at a school, class, and student).
- Assess any student in their school.
- Change assessment windows for their school.
- Export student data to a spreadsheet file for their school.
- Set a category filter for their school to omit skills not taught from reports.
- Select the scope and sequence for their school if they purchased a custom scope and sequence alignment.
Teachers:
- See reports for their grade level in their school, but not other grade levels or other schools.
- See reports for their class and students in their class (not other classes or students).
- Assess and see results for students in their class.
Do User Permissions Set in Renaissance Software Apply to Star Phonics?
No. User permission changes made in Renaissance Manage Apps and Users do not apply to Star Phonics. Star Phonics permissions are based on the user's role as described above (District Administrator, Specialist, or Teacher).
How Can Teachers Practice the Assessment Before Administering It to Students?
Teachers can select the Resources menu, then Practice Platform to go to the practice platform.
This platform allows teachers to get a feel for how the test will go once students are actually being assessed. Please note that students cannot use the practice platform because the code generated by the teacher device will not sync to the student device. The practice platform is only meant for teachers.
Can a Screener Assessment Be Reset or Deleted?
Screener assessments cannot be reset or deleted from personnel accounts; however, you can retest the student, and the second test will be the one shown on reports. You can also request that the Star Phonics Support team delete the assessment.
Are Spanish Star Phonics Assessments Available?
Currently, only English assessments are available.
Why Are Words Marked Incorrect When a Student Sounds Them Out First?
Whether you are administering a Screener or a Diagnostic Test, the student must read the whole word correctly because Star Phonics is a mastery measure, and part of mastery is automaticity. The instructions include recommendations for prompts that the teacher can use if a student tries to sound the word out first. The teacher should remind the student to try to read the whole word without sounding it out as many times as necessary. We recommend that the teacher make a note for any word that a student sounds out and use the orange scoring category, which marks the word incorrect but distinguishes it from words that are simply read incorrectly.
Can I Give a Student a Screener Assessment More Than Once in an Assessment Window?
Yes, a Screener can be given to a student at any time. If a student has more than one Screener assessment during a window, the most recent assessment in the window will be included in reports.
Do Reports Include Screener Assessments Taken Outside the Assessment Windows (Off-Cycle Assessments)?
These assessments are available on individual student Screener Reports, but not class/group or grade-level reports.
Typically, off-cycle screening is for students coming into a school or class outside of the assessment windows, or in cases where a teacher wants to check in on how a student is progressing throughout the year. This allows educators to get the data they need for students without skewing the data collected during an assessment window. If a student's off-cycle data were included in the assessment window data, the comparison between that student and others would not be fair since that student could have received weeks of additional instruction that the other students did not receive before their assessments.
Is a .CSV Report Available?
Administrators can export screening or diagnostic data to a .CSV/Excel file.
What Is the School Year Start Date for Star Phonics?
The school year start date for all Star Phonics users is August 1. Assessments taken before August 1 in a given year appear in reports for the old school year, while those taken on or after August 1 are in reports for the new school year. To ensure that assessments for the new school year appear in the correct reports, assess your students on or after August 1.
Why Can't the District Administrator Use the Same Email Account for Multiple District Sites?
Star Phonics is currently designed for one district, so it does not account for situations where a District Administrator needs access to more than one district. To work around the issue, use a separate, unique email address for each district, or have District Administrators share login credentials with each other so that they can see data for each other's districts.
Renaissance is working on updating the application to allow District Administrators to see data for more than one district.
Can Star Phonics Data Be Shared with Data Warehouses or State Departments of Education?
Star Phonics data cannot be shared at this time, though other Renaissance data can be (see Sharing Data with Data Warehouses or State Departments of Education).
After a Diagnostic Test, in the Instructional Recommendations, One or More Lalilo Lessons are Marked "Assigned On." Why?
If your class has both Star Phonics and Lalilo, Lalilo lessons can be assigned after a Diagnostic Test. Star Phonics tracks when a lesson was assigned from this report. If you give more than one Diagnostic Test, any lesson that you previously assigned through Star Phonics is marked "Assigned," even if the Diagnostic Test was for a different skill (some Lalilo lessons appear for more than one type of Star Phonics Diagnostic Test).
Can I Assign Lalilo Lessons from the Star Phonics Practice Platform?
No, lessons can only be assigned from the main Star Phonics application. The practice platform lets educators practice giving an assessment. You may see lessons in the platform, but you cannot assign them.
Why Don't I See the Integration/Lessons in My Star Phonics Account?
In order to see the integration (lessons), educators must have a Lalilo premium account, Lalilo must be available/accessed through the Renaissance Home page or Renaissance Next, and Lalilo must be one of the products assigned to the class using Star Phonics. Make sure all educators who need access to this integration have an account in Lalilo and that Lalilo has been assigned to their classes.
Troubleshooting
A Student's Test Won't Start
Make sure the student selects Enter before the teacher selects Begin Test. Otherwise, the test won't begin.
A Student Is Receiving an OTP Error (Using Premium Edition)
An OTP error means that your student device is not on the correct site. Make sure your student device is logged in to your Renaissance site.
Students See a Message Saying the Site They Are Trying to Reach Is Restricted
This may be caused by a browser extension. Please check with your school's IT department to find out whether the student has any extensions enabled that should not be.
The Administrator Can't See or Select a School and Is Being Asked to "Add S&S"
Rostering changes have been made, and those changes have not yet been synced to Star Phonics. If the changes were made in the Renaissance software, wait until the next day and try again. If the changes were made using Custom Data Integration (CDI) services, wait two days and try again (one night for the changes to be uploaded to the Renaissance software and another for those changes to sync with Star Phonics). The sync cannot be manually forced at this time.