Renaissance Star 360

Awesome Program. Our whole district is using the program.

주석: This software has helped our district

장점:

We are able to customize assessments for individual students. We use it as an intervention tool to see what standards students aren't mastering.

단점:

Nothing. Love everything about this program. If I had to pick one thing it was getting my teachers to buy into using it. After showing them how easy it was everybody was using it.

Varied Usefulness

주석: We do enjoy the use of the program, especially with our EL students, but the task of setup and maintenance is the most burdensome.

장점:

The Pros are consistent: planning for teachers, ease of use by students, the printing of reports for quick review or to provide parents during conferences. We did like the adaptation of Lexile levels and the constant updating of AR resources. I love that the test results are readily available and we do like the integration with partner product Ellevation nightly. Customer support is lightning fast with the chat feature, but sometimes can be a hit or miss with their attitude.

단점:

Set up and maintenance are the main issues. Not adapting to be API with the school SIS or login platforms like Clever really eats up a lot of setup time during the school year for rostering. A lot of people need to spend their time updating enrollment in classes or the characteristics/programs students are enrolled in. We also didn't like that we could create our own characteristics like the DLA program, but those will not be printed or usable on the built in reports. I also do not appreciate the lack of API to the SIS by pulling scores into our Testing table. I had to create an elaborate extraction and translation of the fields to be able to import them into the SIS for Admin and teachers to review along with other state test scores.

STAR 360 frustratingly useful

주석: Overall, I enjoy using the STAR 360 in order to mark the completion of standards in Math and Reading. Understanding the scores, still causes me frustration.

장점:

Over the past few years Renaissance has made some significant changes to their software that aids in decision making for teachers. Changes including planning instruction and managing content are great features. However, how scores are calculated and how to explain the "numbers" to parents still remains a murky area to traverse.

단점:

Connectivity, timeliness of score reports, blank screens and timing out questions still remain areas of contention. There used to be a feature where teachers could see who in their class has started but not yet completed a test. That feature s now gone. For those teachers whose students are not seen daily, or for students who need extra time due to IEP requirements this feature was valuable. When "chatting" with a tech about why a students screen is blank in the middle of a test and they have no answer or tell me to pause the test, causing anxiety for students, I tend to get very frustrated with the program. Eventually, the tech will get back to me, but my student may not have time to complete the test. Taking me back to the issue of not being able to see incomplete tests.

Renaissance and our STAR students

주석: We have used Renaissance for many years. I think this was the best transition we had from the other assessments we used to give where we had to wait for a number of weeks to get the results, then we needed to analyze them, before we could put our students in their proper groups.
We have seen a high success rate in students who have kept their AR goals. With the STAR Assessments, now it is easier for us to track success through the longitudinal reports that we could run.

장점:

It is an adaptive software that helps in differentiating our students. It has now become our regular source of assessments for both Reading and Math, helping us place the students in their achievement levels and aid us in planning our instruction to ensure their success. I love that the results to the assessments are readily available, right after the students take the tests. I also love the fact that with their test results come their reading levels and which book lexile levels we could assign them to read to maximize their improvement.

단점:

In the past, I would hear students say AR (Accelerated Reading) takes the fun out of reading, because they are put in their levels and have to meet a certain goal.

Versatile

주석: We generally use Renaissance for AR only. It is easy for the kids to use, and they appreciate the immediate results. It is a great way to assess their comprehension skills on independent reading.

장점:

Renaissance is convenient and allows for quick data on student performance. It is useful to see growth or lack thereof for each student.

단점:

Finding the report you want to use can be time consuming, as there is much to filter through. In the updated version of the software, I am unable to use a particular report that I have used and liked for years.

Teacher who uses program

주석: Overall the software is fine, I struggle with how the program is used in my school as it sometimes stresses out the struggling readers and makes kids who do not like to read, dislike reading even more.

장점:

It makes it easy to hold students accountable for their reading. It is a simple system to use with many children. The students can usually get to their tests and see their progress on their own.

단점:

The newest update is not as user friendly for the students or the teachers. It has been a difficult transition for all.

Renaissance

주석: Overall, Renaissance Star 360 is a great program for the classroom!

장점:

This software allows me to track my students reading practice and set achievable goals based on their performance level.

단점:

The only negative aspect of this software is that the new upgrade has left me having to spend a lot of time searching for the reports that I need.

Student and Teacher frustrations

주석: It varies year to year, but the most recent updates to the online format for report retrieval have been most frustrating.

장점:

I like the software for for the data collection and progress monitoring.

단점:

It often has glitches when using on i pads (easiest format for K-2nd students). The font is very small, and logs them out when they enlarge the words. The STAR Math assessment will read many questions to students, but most often says "Choose the best answer", and is very frustrating for the kids. This is most noticeable on the first grade test. Reports are very difficult to pull up. There is a lengthy delay after students assess for the information to register and be accessed. This is a new problem this school year. Also, you must select and re select the student and class for every single report. It would be more efficient if each user could customize the class for pulling up the reports, rather than clicking through all other staff/students at the school.

Great for Intervention

장점:

Star 360 allows me to asses and place students in reading or math. Star 360 provides many different reports so I can target instruction.

단점:

I like the standards it assesses but there are some gaps in the comprehensiveness of the results.

Not my first choice

주석: I have used it to assess students’ independent reading levels.

장점:

This is not my first option to assess students’ reading levels. I find the timed feature can be very intimidating for students. It does have a clear display, and the passages are well written.

단점:

The timed feature makes it hard for students to remain focused. The time passes so quickly and that can be a huge variable for students.

Effective Supplement for the Classroom

장점:

It's easy to setup and organize. Easy for students to login on their own and use.

단점:

Takes a lot of clicks to log in. The latest update made it slower to log in.

Great testing software

장점:

We use this software for assessments. I like how this program is customized per grade. We use it fir Kindergarten through fifth grade. The assessment show what the student needs more work on, where they score well with and provides a lot of data that can be utilized to work with students on those specific skills.

단점:

I sometimes think the assessments are too difficult for 2nd grade however this could be because it is a national program and my students are below the national average.

Gives Us Guidelines for Individual Academic Growth

주석: Overall, it is an infinitely better system than the national or state tests that are required in our state. This allows for us to modify curriculum for a student as the year progresses.

장점:

Renaissance Star 360 has shown adaptability during this past year. Since our school was in Distance Learning, we were able to continue to test students remotely, being able to see individual progress. This has given us the guidelines for where we need to begin when we return to on site teaching.

단점:

Although vastly improved, it still takes a little time to be able to decipher all of the possible outcomes and recommendations that the data provides us. However, it has improved.

Renaissance!

주석: Overall Renaissance has greatly enhanced my ability to motivate students to give reading a chance!

장점:

What a helpful tool for assessing and monitoring students' independent reading! I love the accelerated reading program!

단점:

Renaissance's report section can be difficult to figure out how to navigate. However, their partner application MYON is very intuitive and an excellent add on to this program.

Pleased

주석: I like it! Helps to be able to look any time and see what my child has done.

장점:

We use this mainly to keep up with AR points each semester. It’s great for that purpose.

단점:

I don’t know if it’s an option or not but I wish it would separate each 9 weeks on the list of books read and tested over...So if you need X amount of points each nine weeks you will know where each new set of 9 weeks starts

Mixed Feelings

주석: The intervention team uses Star 360 to place students and determine grade level equivalency to provide direction for targeting instruction to fill learning gaps.

장점:

I Ike that it allows you to generate many different reports and track data individually and collectively.

단점:

I think the placement tests can be vague. It tries to adapt as the student tests but I find the range broad and that it does not effectively test proficiency.

Renaissance Star 360

주석: My overall experience with Renaissance Star 360 is great. I have not experienced many issues with the software. It is very user-friendly, easy to set up and implement.

장점:

I like that Renaissance Star 360 has support for our EL students and can accurately meet this target group's needs. I also like how Star 360 integrates with all the systems we currently utilize.

단점:

There is not much I do not like about Renaissance Star 360. The price is the only thing I can point to as a source of the issue.

Great for Student Development

장점:

Renaissance works great for tracking student development over the school year.

단점:

Sometimes the tests can be difficult for students and as a teacher you don't know what to expect on them because it's different for everyone.

Renaissance Star 360 - Teacher Review

주석: Student monitoring for literacy.

장점:

The reporting is outstanding and meets the needs I have for student monitoring.

단점:

It would be helpful to learn more about the product features but we have central contacts for that aspect.

Good Diagnostic Test

주석: I used Star 360 a few years ago and it’s changed a bit since then. This is the first year my school has chosen to use the Custom Star piece it’s pretty good.

장점:

I like the option to use custom tests to only assess the standards and skills that have been taught thus far.

단점:

Thus far I haven’t had the easiest time getting good reports for the custom assessments. It can be a bit difficult to make sure those custom assessments are exactly what you want as well. Sometimes the questions don’t line up exactly with the standard/skill.

Student friendly

장점:

It's easy for students to use. They are familiar with it from earlier usage.

단점:

The interface for teachers to move from screen to screen is cumbersome.