Star Assessments Now Connects to Nearpod; Star Phonics & Spanish Language Literacy Assessments Unveiled

• By Kristal Kuykendall
• 08/15/22

Renaissance’s Star Assessments platform now connects with Nearpod, enabling teachers using the Star platform to access the Nearpod lesson library and resources without leaving Star, Renaissance said in a news release.

In addition, educators using Nearpod Math now have access to assessment resources with the Star platform, the company said.

The new connections “helps streamline the lesson-planning process and helps educators to more easily differentiate instruction for individual students, small groups, and entire classes in both literacy and mathematics, Renaissance said.

The company also launched two new foundational literacy assessments: Star Phonics, billed as the only web-based assessment of 12 phonics categories and 102 essential skills, and Star CBM Lectura, an assessment of literacy development in Spanish for K–6 students in bilingual and dual-language programs.

“Star CBM Lectura provides screening as well as real-time data on foundational literacy components in Spanish, which is data many teachers have never had access to before,” Renaissance noted.

A number of new features have been added to existing Renaissance solutions, according to the news release, including:

• Student-recorded read-aloud in the myON digital platform, to provide new opportunities for oral reading practice and to build reading fluency
• A Parts of Speech domain in Freckle for ELA, to provide students with in-depth practice on essential components of grammar
• A Biliteracy Report in Accelerated Reader, to help educators monitor emergent bilingual students’ reading practice in English and Spanish
• The ability to use Star Early Literacy scores to automatically match students with foundational literacy lessons in Lalilo

Renaissance has added new educator and IT support resources to its website, the company said, such as product-specific checklists for starting a new school year, step-by-step implentation instructions, rostering guides, and more. Find the back-to-school guides for educators and school staff at Renaissance.com/back-to-school-2022/.

Also newly added are student/family engagement resources for four Renaissance solutions – Accelerated Reader, Freckle, Lalilo, and myON; these include such items as class handouts, letters and activities for families, student reading logs and achievement boards, templates for badges and certificates, and more.

Renaissance will host a live virtual event on Tuesday, Sept. 20 on its LinkedIn page to walk educators through the new product features and offer strategies for helping students achieve accelerated growth this school year, the company said. The event is open to all K–12 educators and administrators, and no registration is required.

Also available each week are how-to webinars on getting started, interpreting data, and enhancing instruction for each Renaissance solution; educators can view the schedule and register at Renaissance.com/webinars/?type=how-to.

Learn more at Renaissance.com.