Browse Help Content
search

Star Growth Report

The Star Growth Report shows growth for a group of students over time, with emphasis on Student Growth Percentile (SGP) and the student's growth proficiency category (low/high growth and low/high proficiency). For this report, assessment data from the following programs are used:

  • Star Early Literacy Assessment (English and Spanish)
  • Star Math Assessment (English and Spanish)
  • Star Reading Assessment (English and Spanish)

How do I get to this page?

  1. Log in to Renaissance.
  2. On the Home page, select Star Reading, Star Early Literacy, Star Math, or Star Spanish.
  3. In the drop down-list, select Reports.

  4. On the Star / Assessment tab on the Reports page, under “Growth and Progress,” select Star Growth Report.

Who can do this with default user permissions?

District Level Administrators, District Dashboard Owners, District Staff, School Level Administrators, School Staff, Teachers

  1. Use the Subject and Assessment Types drop-down lists to choose the assessment types to include in the report. The assessment types available will change depending on the subject chosen:

    Subject Assessment Types Subject Assessment Types
    Reading Star Early Literacy and Star Readinga Reading Spanish Star Early Literacy Spanish
    Star Early Literacy Star Reading Spanish
    Star Reading  
    Subject Assessment Types Subject Assessment Types
    Math Star Mathb Math Spanish Star Math Spanishb

    a. If you select Reading, the Star Early Literacy and Star Reading assessment type covers students who have tested with Star Early Literacy only, Star Reading only, and those who have transitioned from one test to another between reporting periods.

    b. If you select Math or Math Spanish as the subject, you will not need to select an assessment type (Star Math and Star Math Spanish are the only assessment types for those subjects).
  2. Select Change Students... to choose whose data you want to see in the report.



    • Teachers can only choose students in their own classes and groups.
    • In the pop-up window, if there is a Schools column, select a school. (This column isn't available if you only have access to one school.)

    • If the Teachers column is available, at the top of the column, choose either All Teachers (to choose all the teachers in the school) or Select Teachers (to choose specific teachers; check the ones you want in the list).

      You can search the items in a column by clicking within that column and then typing Ctrl+F or control-F on the keyboard.

    • At the top of the Classes column, choose either All Classes (to choose all the classes for the teachers) or Select Classes (to choose specific classes; check the ones you want in the list).
    • Teachers and school staff will also see a Groups column. At the top of the Groups column, choose either All Groups or Select Groups; if you choose Select Groups, check the groups that you want to include. The first choice in the column is "Whole Class" or "Whole Classes"; choose this to report on the class(es) as a whole. Below that, you will see any groups that you have created.
    • You may need to scroll to the right to see the Students column. At the top of the Students column, choose either All Students (to choose all the students) or Select Students (to choose specific students; check the ones you want in the list).

      • When you are done making your choices, select Apply (or Cancel to close the window without saving your choices).

  3. If you want to use demographic data to further refine the data in the report, select Change Demographics... (or Choose Demographics...).

    By default, the "All" option is chosen for Ethnicity, Gender, Language, and Grade Level. To reduce the scope, choose the "Select" option at the top of the appropriate column and then check your selections in that column.


    In the example above, the user has selected two Languages and three Grade Levels, while leaving Ethnicity and Gender at the default "All" options. Note: The Filter Reports by Ethnicity user permission may be set to prevent the use of ethnicities as a filter.

    By default, the "All" option is chosen for Characteristics. To reduce the scope, choose Select Characteristics... and then check each characteristic you want students in the report to have. You must also choose any or all (after "Include students with") to specify whether students with any of the selected characteristics will be included in the report or only those with all of the selected characteristics.


    In the example above, the user selected two Characteristics (ADA and ESL). Because any is selected, the report will include students who are ADA, ESL, or both. If all had been selected, only students who are both ADA and ESL would be included. Note: The Filter Reports by Characteristics user permission may be set to prevent the use of characteristics as a filter.

    Once you are finished choosing demographic options, select Apply at the bottom of the window to save your choices (or Cancel to close the window without saving your choices).
  4. For Timeframe, choose either Select Dates for Growth or Current SGP (Student Growth Percentile).



    • If you choose Select Dates for Growth, use the School Year, Ending Test Window, and Starting Test Window drop-down lists to select the school year and testing windows you want to use data from. Note that you need to select the Ending Test Window before you select the Starting Test Window.
    • If you choose Current SGP (Student Growth Percentile), you will not need to make any further selections. Current SGP will be calculated for students who have taken at least two tests in different testing windows, using the most recent test in the past 18 months and a test from a previous window (see SGP for details on Current SGP).
    See the help for SGP for more information.

    Note: At this time, for Star Math Spanish, SGPs can only be calculated for grades 1–8.
  5. Use the Growth Expectations drop-down list to choose the SGP you expect your students to have achieved between the selected reporting periods (5–70 SGP, in 5-point intervals). On the report, for students whose SGP is below the value you select, you will see "Low Growth" in the Growth Proficiency Category column. For students whose SGP is above the value you select, you will see "High Growth."

    Use the Group By drop-down list to choose how you want the information in the report to be grouped: by classes/groups, grade, teacher, or not grouped.

  6. Use the Scale drop-down list to choose which scale you want to use for the scores on the report. (If you select a scale that doesn't apply to the selected assignment type, the default scale for that assignment type will be used.)



    Notes on the scales:

    • The Lexile® Scale does not apply to Star Early Literacy scores.
    • PARCC (Math) only applies to grades 3–8, and only to English assessments.
    • PARCC (Reading) only applies to grades 3–10, and only to English assessments.
    • Smarter Balanced (Reading and Math) only applies to grades 3–8, and only to English assessments.

    If the selected scale does not apply to some of the selected students in the report, the Star Enterprise Scale will be used for those students.

  7. Use the Benchmark Type drop-down list to choose which benchmarks you want to use for this report: State (if available), District, or School. On the report, you'll see a square next to each student's scores in the color of the student's benchmark category; refer to the Benchmark Categories information at the beginning of the report to identify the categories. (State benchmarks are only available if you are reporting on the English versions of Star Reading or Star Math assessments. State benchmarks are not available for the English version of Star Early Literacy or any of the Spanish versions of the Star assessments.)

    8. The Star Growth Report also uses the benchmark type you select to determine whether to show "Low Proficiency" or "High Proficiency" in the Growth Proficiency Category column. For School and District benchmarks, you will see "Low Proficiency" for students whose latest scores are in a benchmark category below the minimum proficiency level, and "High Proficiency" for those whose latest scores are at or above the minimum proficiency level. For State benchmarks, the "Proficient" level is the threshold for "High Proficiency."

  8. To the right of the Benchmark Type drop-down list:

    • Check Show Grade Equivalent to include Grade Equivalent scores in the report.
    • Check Show Summary Only to show only a summary of the report data instead of the full report.
    • Check Hide Groups Without Data if you want to have groups without test data omitted from the report.
  9. Once you are done choosing report options, select Update Report.

  10. The report will generate and then open at the bottom of the page.



    For each class or group, the scores from the tests used to generate an SGP are shown. In the full version of the report, each student's scores are shown, with a summary in a separate table beneath. If Show Summary Only was chosen in step 8, only the summary tables are shown.

    11. If you selected Reading as the subject and Early Literacy and Reading as the assessment type for the report in step 1, there will be up to three sets of tables on the report: the first set is for students who have only taken Star Early Literacy tests, the second is for students who transitioned from the Star Early Literacy test to the Star Reading test (or vice-versa) between the selected reporting periods, and the third is for students who have only taken Star Reading tests.

    In the Class Summary, the median shown is the median of all of the students with SGPs.

    While SGPs provide the most precise measure of growth, you may wish to consider the changes in other scores as well, such as Scaled Score (absolute change between tests) or Percentile Rank or Normal Curve Equivalent (change in score in relation to grade-level peers).

    If any of the students in the class have capped GE scores, the average GE score for the class is found by calculating the average Scaled Score for the class as described in the next paragraph, and then converting that score to a GE score.

    When the average Scaled Score is calculated for a group of students, the Rasch scores are averaged first; that average is then converted to the average Scaled Score for the group. This method is more accurate than using each student's individual Scaled Score for the calculation.

    If a student's GE is capped (see above) or is < 1, a dash (–) will be shown in the "Latest Change" row for that student.

  11. You can change any of the options you have selected and then regenerate the report by selecting Update Report.
  12. To print the report, select the PDF () icon at the top of the screen or just above the report itself.

    13. If you'd like to export the report to a .csv file instead (a comma-separated value file used with spreadsheet programs), select the CSV () icon just above the report. The .csv file will include the selected Star assessment data for each student with test dates and durations, growth proficiency categories, Star scores, and benchmark categories.

  13. To return to the Reports page, select either Back to Reports or the report icon    at the top of the screen.