Scores and Goals
- cumulative score: An overall score, not related to a particular skill set (see domain score).
- cut score: A cut score is either a converted Percentile Rank (PR) score or, in the case of state benchmarks, a Scaled Score (SS). Cut scores that are chosen as targets for students to meet or surpass are benchmarks.
- domain score: A score relating to a particular skill set. For example, you could compare schools based on their cumulative scores (q.v.) in math, or you could have the comparison use the score for a specific domain within math (Numbers and Operations; Algebra; Geometry and Measurement; or Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability).
- goal: A target that a group or group set of schools should be trying to achieve. Goals are set on the Decide and Act/Adjust views; the goals available depend on the selected groups/group sets and metrics. Example: a goal to have 60 percent of the students in each school pass an upcoming spring assessment.
Student Growth Percentile (Projection Model)
The SGP Projection Model, developed by Dr. Damian Betebenner, provides the latest in growth projections, including Betebenner’s well-known catch-up, keep-up growth projections to provide longitudinal SGP data.
Student Growth Percentile Projection Model (SGP PM) utilizes the historical growth trajectories of Star examinees to map out what the range of potential growth trajectories for each student will lead to, including what growth is necessary for each student to reach/maintain proficiency. The SGP Projection Model is updated regularly so that students projections are based upon the most recent data available.
For more information about Student Growth Percentiles, refer to these documents:
A Primer on Student Growth Percentiles by Damian Betebenner
A Technical Overview of the Student Growth Percentile Methodology:
Student Growth Percentiles and Percentile Growth
Projections/Trajectories by Damian Betebenner
Star Unified Scale
This new scale appears in "out-of-the-box" dashboards as an option labeled "Unified Scale." If a District Administrator creates his or her own dashboard, the Unified Scale may also be selected.
The Unified Scale accomplishes two different objectives. First, it links Star Early Literacy Enterprise to the Star Reading scale. Second, it creates a new scale, applicable to both Early Literacy and Reading, that has the desirable measurement properties of a Rasch score scale.
Educators have requested that students taking Star Reading and Star Early Literacy be placed on the same scale. Star Reading has a scale score range of 0–1400, while Star Early Literacy is on a different scale with a score range of 300–900. In response to the need for one scale, Renaissance Learning developed the "unified score scale" that can be used to report scores for both Star Early Literacy and Star Reading, thus facilitating comparison of the achievement of children taking these two different tests. The Unified Scale score range is from 0 to approximately 1400.
To support the use of the scales, in the Star District Dashboard the "Star Scale" is labeled as the "Star Classic Scale," in order to differentiate it from the "Star Unified Scale." Currently, Star data for Star Math and Star Reading are available in the Star District Dashboard. Data for Star Early Literacy will be integrated into the Star District Dashboard in summer 2015. At this time the Unified Scale is only in the Star District Dashboard.
A note of caution is necessary here to discourage over-interpretation of this unified score scale: Although Star Early Literacy Enterprise and Star Reading Enterprise are fairly highly correlated, they measure different aspects of the progression from pre-literacy to fully-developed reading proficiency. Consequently, the highest claim that can be made about the Star Early Reading Rasch scores and scale scores is that they identify new Star Early Literacy scores that are approximately equivalent to Star Reading scores.