Star Reading, Star Early Literacy, and Star Math English Only

Back to School 2024/25

New norms available at back-to-school 2024/25 for the English versions of Star Reading, Star Early Literacy, and Star Math are based on data from the 2022/23 school year. They replace norms based on data from the 2018/19 school year which were implemented from the 2022/23–2023/24 school year.

What are Star Assessment norms and how do you interpret them?

Norm-referenced scores provide a relative measure of student achievement compared to the performance of a peer group at a given time. For example, a student with a percentile rank score of 85 performed as well as or better than 85 percent of other students in the same grade at the time of testing. Educators use this data along with criterion-referenced scores to gauge student progress, help determine instructional groups, and inform instruction based on student needs.

How often does Renaissance update norms?

Renaissance continually evaluates when and if an update is necessary to ensure they remain relevant, fair, and useful to evaluate student performance in an ever-changing educational landscape. The frequency of updating assessment norms is typically 3–5 years for the Star assessments, but that can vary based on several factors, including changes in educational standards, shifts in student demographics, and advancements in assessment methodologies.

What Star Reading, Star Early Literacy, and Star Math English scores are impacted by the updated norms?

Star Assessments provide a variety of norm-referenced scores which will be impacted, including Percentile Rank (PR), Grade Equivalent (GE), and Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) to help you determine if students are performing above, equal to, or below their grade-level peers. Student Growth Percentile (SGP) is also a norm-referenced score, but will not be impacted by the new norms, as they have their own unique normative analysis to determine growth norms. SGPs are tentatively planned to be updated for the 2025/26 school year.

When will the new norms take effect?

The new norms will be applied on the first day of the school year as defined on your Renaissance site.

Will historical data be updated to reflect the new norms?

No, prior Star tests will continue to show the benchmarks in place at the time the test was taken.

Where can I find more information on the new norms?

The Star Technical Manuals provide detailed information on the norming process including sample characteristics and data analysis. These will be updated at BTS 2024.

Impact Analysis Summary

Star Assessments have benchmarks in place to support the comparison of norms to a predetermined criterion. The 10th, 25th, and 40th percentile ranks have been identified as widely used criteria for classifying students in a progression from needing urgent intervention to achieving target levels of proficiency. School and District Benchmarks are customizable based on the needs and requirements at your district or school. State Benchmarks are not impacted by new norms as they are based on linking studies with state tests and use Star Scaled Scores.

In both Star Early Literacy and Star Reading English, an analysis found moderate score declines from grades PreK-12. This means fewer students will be classified as needing intervention and more students as at/above benchmark overall when you are using the School and District PR-based benchmarks.

Star Math English analysis also found score declines but more pronounced in grades 5–12. Like the reading assessments, this means fewer students will be classified as needed intervention and more students as at/above benchmark overall especially in the higher grades if you are using the PR-based benchmarks.

It is important to note that while we do see general declines in performance in the new norms since the last norms update (based on data from the 2018/19 school year) we do see steady improvements in almost every grade over the last few years.

Should benchmarks be adjusted for our district or school?

If you are using the school (default) or the district benchmark, consider the available resources within your district and school that support students. Adjust the benchmarks to align with those expectations. In addition, review the state benchmarks, which are not impacted by the new norms and are based on linking studies with state tests, for additional context around state performance expectations.

What can we do about the overall decline in the performance of our students?

As we continue to move forward in a post-pandemic world, the acceleration and support of general instruction is more critical than ever.

Use Renaissance Focus Skills to target and prioritize learning topics.
Ensure and monitor the reading proficiency and growth of students in Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 as much as practical. These grades represent a peak number of essential reading skills across nearly every state’s learning progression.
Closely monitor the mathematics proficiency and growth of students in grades with a disproportionately high number of Focus Skills. There is significantly more variance across the states’ mathematics standards and the resulting progressions, so educators in each state will need to access their state-specific information to review the skill distribution.
Track the growth of your students with Student Growth Percentiles.
Disaggregate data to ensure equity across all subgroups.
Rely on data from valid and reliable interim assessments like Star because they can meet immediate needs for proficiency and progress monitoring information. In addition, some of the most useful tools can also facilitate the formation of instructional groups and provide immediate access to instructional resources.

How do the new norms affect Third Grade Promotion?

In some states, policy dictates that if a student has failed to achieve the predetermined cut scores on the state test for promotion to 4th grade, that student can take an alternate assessment, such as the Star Reading interim test. If the student attains a certain percentile rank as defined by your state at the end of third grade that student can be promoted to 4th grade.

For example, if the student attains a percentile rank of 50 (PR 50) at the end of 3rd grade, that student can be promoted to 4th grade. The new norms do not change this policy, but a lower scaled score may now be associated with the PR50 required for 3rd grade promotion.