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Star Growth Report

The Star Growth Report shows growth for a group of students over time, with an 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:

    Open a screen-readable version of this table in a new window.

    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 Spanishc

    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 as the subject, you will not need to select an assessment type (Star Math is the only assessment type for that subject).

    c. If you select Math Spanish as the subject, you will not need to select an assessment type (Star Math Spanish is the only assessment type for that subject).
  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.)

    • In this example, School 5 is the selected school, Brittany Spencer is the selected teacher, the 'All Classes' option has been chosen for classes, and 'Whole Classes' has been chosen for groups. The Apply and Cancel buttons are at the bottom.

    • 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 (district administrators, district staff, and school administrators will not see the 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).

    • In this example, a fifth column, Students, is shown, with the 'All Students' option selected. The Apply and Cancel buttons are at the bottom.

      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. Use the School Year drop-down list to choose which school year you want to see data for: the current year or a prior school year.
  5. After selecting a school year, use the Timeframe drop-down list to narrow the time span further.
    • To view SGPs from within the selected school year, choose the testing windows under "Current or Selected Year" that you want to measure growth between: Fall to Winter, Fall to Spring, or Winter to Spring.
    • To view SGPs between the selected school year and the school year before it, choose the testing windows under "Compare to Previous Year": Spring to Fall, Fall to Fall, or Spring to Spring.
    • To view current SGPs for students, select Latest Test (Current SGP). 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. Note: Selecting this option will cause the School Year drop-down list to be removed, as it is no longer necessary.
    • To view growth for a student without using SGPs, select Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated). When this option is selected, a pop-up calendar will open—select or type the dates you want and then select Apply.

      The user has chosen Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated). A pop-up calendar is open, allowing the user to choose the dates. The dates can also be entered in the field above the calendar. The Apply and Cancel buttons are in the lower-right corner of the pop-up window.

      • Selecting this option will cause the School Year drop-down list to be removed as it is no longer necessary; to restore it, select an option other than Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated).
      • For custom date ranges, scores on the report will be calculated by comparing the first and last tests within the range.
  6. 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." (Note: If you selected Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated) in the previous step, the Growth Expectations drop-down will not be shown.)

    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.

  7. 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

  8. 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.)

    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."

  9. 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.
  10. Once you are done choosing report options, select Update Report.

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

    An example report. The test history of each student is shown, with the amount of growth that has taken place between the dates. Other test data, including scores, benchmark categories, and test durations are shown. At the bottom is a summary showing the average growth for all the students.

    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 earlier, only the summary tables are shown.

    notes on the scores

    • SGPs provide the most precise measure of growth (see Student Growth Percentile (SGP) for more information); however, you may wish to consider the changes in other scores as well. If you selected Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated) earlier, there will be no SGPs shown on the report. In this case, look at students' other scores (changes in Scaled Scores, Grade Equivalent, Percentile Rank, change in Normal Curve Equivalent in relation to grade-level peers, Instructional Reading Level, and/or Estimated Oral Reading Fluency) to determine their growth during the selected date range.
    • If you selected Reading as the subject and Star Early Literacy and Star 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. If you selected Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated) earlier, there will be no SGP data in the summary, and the testing windows will be named "First/Second" instead of "Pretest/Posttest."
    • The Growth Proficiency Category is a combination of the student's SGP in comparison to the Growth Expectations level you set earlier (SGPs below this level = Low Growth, SGPs above this level = High Growth) and their test score in comparison to the Benchmark Type you chose earlier (for School and District benchmarks, Low Proficiency = students whose latest scores are in a benchmark category below the minimum proficiency level, High Proficiency = students whose latest scores are at or above the minimum proficiency level; for State benchmarks, the "Proficient" level is the threshold for High Proficiency).
    • 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.
  12. You can change any of the options you have selected and then regenerate the report by selecting Update Report.
  13. To print the report, select the PDF () icon at the top of the page or just above the report itself.

    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. (Currently, this cannot be done if you selected Custom Date Range (No SGP Calculated) earlier.)

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