Arkansas Department of Education Approves K–2 Math, ELA Assessment

The Arkansas Department of Education recently approved a K–2 math and English language arts (ELA) assessment through 2024.

After a rigorous approval process, the state signed an agreement with Renaissance, a pre-K–12 learning analytics company, to use its Renaissance Star 360 assessment suite. Star 360 offers timely and actionable data and reports that can help instruction. Teachers will be able to view at-a-glance data dashboards that track students’ progress at the beginning of the school year, midyear, end-of-year and year-to-year.

The suite includes Renaissance Star Early Literacy, Renaissance Star Reading, Renaissance Star Math and Renaissance Star Custom — the latter of which comes with formative item banks for ELA, math and science. It’s powered by the Renaissance Growth Platform, which acts on a database of more than 2.7 billion practice and assessment data points.

“These insights make it possible for educators to make informed decisions, personalize learning, and lead every student to mastery of the Arkansas Academic Standards,” according to information from Renaissance.

To help prepare districts for the assessment, the Arkansas Department of Education held the K–2 Assessment Vendor Fair on July 17-20. Districts had the chance to attend presentations and ask vendors specific questions in-person.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • businessman holding tablet with holographic AI icons

    Google Moving AI Agents into Mainstream Product Portfolio

    At its recent I/O developer conference, Google positioned artificial intelligence agents not as a distant research project, but as a product strategy spanning Search, personal assistants, productivity software, developer tools, and smart glasses.

  • Blurred silhouettes of business people in a modern office with a glowing blue network overlay

    Open Secure AI Alliance Moving Under Linux Foundation

    Governance of the Open Secure AI Alliance has moved to the Linux Foundation, giving the initiative what the organizations describe as a neutral home for developing open source tools, shared standards and defensive practices. The Alliance was launched by NVIDIA in July to develop open security technologies for AI systems and agents.

  • abstract smartphone translucent screen displaying AI interface

    Apple Unveils Redesigned Siri AI

    At its recent Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced Siri AI, a redesigned version of its voice assistant that Apple describes in its own announcement as "a profoundly more capable and personal assistant." The update is intended to make Siri more conversational, more context-aware, and more useful across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro.

  • shattered digital cloud with red warning alert icons

    CSA Names Identity, AI Top Cloud Threats

    Cloud Security Alliance's 2026 Top Threats report ranks identity as the leading cloud security concern, followed by two new AI-related risks.