The 2021-22 school year was the first year that the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) administered the Renaissance Star assessments as a universal screening tool to all students in grades K-12. This was a shift from administering both the Star and aimswebPlus assessments during the 2020-21 school year, and took place as students returned to in-person learning after more than a year of virtual and/or hybrid learning due to Covid-19. At the same time, SDP started implementing a systematic process to monitor progress toward the Goals and Guardrails adopted by the Board of Education in 2020-21. As Star test results from each testing window became available, SDP teams met to analyze, discuss, and plan instructional interventions.
This series of reports provides an in-depth look at participation and performance patterns as measured by the four 2021-22 Star assessment windows, and includes data reviewed by SDP teams throughout the year.
The first 2021-22 Star Assessment report is an end of year analysis of student participation, performance, and growth in grades K-12 as measured by Star Reading and Math assessments in the Fall, Winter 1, Winter 2, and Spring windows. Findings include:
- Participation: Although there was a decline in the Spring testing window, participation in Star assessments remained above 80% for grades K-8. Participation was lower for high school grades.
- Performance: The percentage of students who scored in the at/above benchmark performance level increased across the four testing windows, and the percentage of students in the intensive intervention level decreased in both reading and math in the first three testing windows. The increase in the percentage of students scoring in the at/above benchmark performance level was observed for all racial/ethnic groups.
- Growth: Student growth varied by grade level. Students in grades K-5 registered higher fall-to-spring growth compared to students in grades 6-12 in both reading and math.