STAR Assessments Approved by California Department of Education for Diagnostic Assessment in Grade Two

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis., Nov. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Renaissance Learning, K12 assessment and learning analytics company, announced today that schools in California will be able to use its STAR Early Learning (consisting of STAR Reading and STAR Early Literacy) and STAR Math to meet requirements for grade two in the state's newly adopted assessment system.

The California Department of Education formerly required that students in grade two participate in the state's summative assessment.  Under the new system, local education agencies (LEAs) will select from approved assessments demonstrated to ensure teachers have information about the developing language arts and computational skills of their students. The Department's rigorous review and approval process also found the STAR assessments to be reliable, valid and aligned to the Common Core State Standards.

"This approval is great news for California educators," said Melissa Watrous, regional vice president at Renaissance Learning. "STAR assessments are widely embraced by teachers, but they also answer today's call for high-quality, meaningful assessment. In STAR, the same test provides efficient, reliable diagnostic data, while also meeting a variety of other educator needs to support effective instruction throughout the year. Research-based learning progressions help teachers identify gaps in student knowledge and link to targeted instructional resources, taking the guesswork out of planning instruction to raise student achievement."

Renaissance Learning's STAR assessments are highly rated for screening and progress monitoring. The STAR Early Learning assessments meet the high standards of the Center on Response to Intervention (CRTI) and the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII). STAR Math is the only assessment to meet the highest standards of the CRTI and the NCII for both screening and progress monitoring. California's decision adds to the growing list of states that have approved the STAR assessments, including Colorado, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, Texas and Virginia.

About Renaissance Learning
Renaissance Learning is a leader of K12 assessment and learning analytics with a presence in more than one-third of U.S. schools and 60 countries around the world. By delivering deep insight into what students know, what they like and how they learn, Renaissance Learning enables educators to deliver highly differentiated and timely instruction while driving personalized student practice in reading, writing and math daily. Renaissance Learning is comprised of top researchers, educators, content-area experts, data scientists and technologists who create and perfect classroom-proven tools.

SOURCE Renaissance Learning