The goal of RTI is not to use CBMs—rather, it is to generate high-quality data and use it to guide important educational decisions. Renaissance Learning’s STAR Early Literacy, STAR Reading, and STAR Math generate a broad range of information using less teacher time, providing more thorough and detailed data to guide important instructional decisions.
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| *Christensen Associates, 2005 |
The computer-based STAR Assessments incorporate two powerful advantages: computer-adaptive testing (CAT) and item response theory (IRT), allowing them to provide:
- Time efficiency in quick administration
- Valid and reliable results for students substantially below (or above) grade-level expectations, and for comparing scores across years
- Richer data for informing instruction
- Ready access to data through online databases
- Multiple functions in a single assessment (screening, progress monitoring, diagnostic use)
- Psychometric concerns with regard to predictivity (Gersten et al., 2008), growth measurement (Betts, Pickart, & Heistad, 2009; Francis et al., 2008, Christ & Ardoin, 2009), lack of a common scale of measurement, and variation in test administration and scoring, contributing to standard error.
- Inefficiency and cost of administration, in terms of teacher time and time lost from instruction (Christensen Associates, 2005).
- Lack of data to drive instruction. CBMs may indicate there is a problem but provide little or no information as to what to do about it (Burns, Dean, & Klar, 2004).
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