Standardized Test Analysis & Reporting System

Reach for the STARS™ to achieve success

A Revolutionary Assessment and Data Management System for Educators. STARS™ is a comprehensive, teacher-friendly analysis and reporting system that allows educators to enact change where it counts the most: the classroom. STARS™ supports data driven decisions while centralizing critical data from across the district.

• User-based dashboards deliver instantaneous, actionable data to teachers, principals and district leaders
• More than just a reporting tool: STARS™ includes lesson plans and a host of instructional resources designed to improve teaching and learning
• Features automatic, nightly roster updates
• Choose from three, high quality item banks
• Allows educators to easily identify growth patterns and monitor progress along multiple measure
• One-click, robust report generation and analyses by subgroups to ensure all learners are progressing
• Creates and delivers benchmark and formative assessments quickly and easily

AssessBuilder™

Easily create and deliver assessments with STARS™ AssessBuilder

• Instantly delivers classroom- and district-level assessments
• Lets teachers create and securely store their own tests
• Allows test items to be drawn from multiple item banks

SchoolScan™

Ensure Accurate Plain-Paper Scanning with STARS™ SchoolScan

• Easy-to-use interface lets users validate and correct data during scanning
• All bubble sheets are pre-slugged with bar codes to ensure data accuracy
• Compatible with a range of cost-effective scanners
• Customizable answer sheet layouts accommodate a wide variety of assessments

A+Scoring

Use On-Line Assessments and Scoring for Instant Results in STARS™.

A+Scoring provides the perfect, no-paper solution for districts wishing to enter test data directly into STARS™ or delivering assessments to students online.

STARS™ Teacher Resources

Our assessment data analysis system is not just about great reports and beautiful charts. STARS™ comes equipped with instructional resources and intervention material, helping teachers "close the circle" with data-driven instruction.
 

Xplore!™

Xplore!™ automatically compiles and rates online lesson plans and resources for any Standard or test item identified as a problem area for students. Teachers can search by Standards or categories (e.g., Skill Building, Games, etc.) and have instant access to thousands of quality resources. Xplore!™ lets teachers rate and share findings throughout their school or district, all while building a valuable repository of go-to instructional solutions.

Instructional Guide that Gets You

Meet IGGY, Instructional Guide to the STARS™

IGGY is an assessment and instructional planner fully aligned with your district's pacing guide and testing schedules. IGGY also happens to be one of STARS™' most powerful formative assessment management solutions. Teachers are only one click away from accessing daily guidance on standards, concepts and lessons to be introduced or reviewed on any given day.

• Teachers can view lessons by grade and subject to determine what standards should be covered
• IGGY lets teachers create, store, and share lesson plans
• Users can view the standards associated with each day of instruction
• District-level users can switch between grade levels or courses
• Grade levels or courses can be color coded to differentiate for more intuitive viewing
• Users can also access tests and associated files with the calendar, syncing teachers and instruction with district efforts for measuring student performance

IGGY is your district's 'GPS for Assessment,' letting teachers and students know where they've been, where they're at, and how best to get where they want to be!

STARS™ SERVICES: SchoolCity Exclusives!

SchoolCity does more than let districts direct data: we help make sure the data is valid and reliable. How? First, by including automatic, nightly student roster updates with our basic STARS™ package. Then, we ensure greater validity and reliability through expert test design and scaling.

 

Scaling with EdScale

Our partnership with Educational Data Systems brings the power of EdScale to STARS™ in California. Districts can do much more than merely forecast CST scores. EdScale provides scale scores for each of your formative and benchmark assessments while allowing you to:

• Compute actionable and reliable student diagnostic statistics
• Accurately measure student growth
• Place students who take different formative assessments on a common Math or ELA CST scale, with common persons or items
• Automatically assign valid, state-aligned performance levels

EdScale does these things without requiring districts to purchase tests from any particular vendor and without a lengthy preparation period. Tests can be changed or replaced from year to year without compromising the scaling system. No standard setting meetings are necessary to set cut-scores, as they are automatically equated to the state's performance levels. "Proficient" on the benchmark test means the same thing as "Proficient" on the CST for each grade.

Automatic Nightly Roster Updates

Having access to current and accurate data is crucial for any effective analysis and reporting tool. Every night, 'round midnight, SchoolCity's STARS™ automatically extracts data directly from your district's Student Information System. The data then goes through a validation process before final loading into SchoolCity STARS™ and SPELL™ programs. Extract – Validate --- Load: "digital plumbing" at its finest! Say good-bye to cumbersome SQL programs while saving considerable staff time when you come to SchoolCity.

Test Creation & Delivery Services

New for 2011! Let SchoolCity create and deliver your district's benchmark and formative assessments. Whether it be a complete testing program or a combination of short- and medium-cycle testing, SchoolCity will meet your test creation needs to ensure success. Put our team of educators and exclusive collection of high quality item banks to work for you!

Item Banks

SchoolCity offers two large, high-quality item banks. Why? Because assessments are only as good as their items, and your district deserves a choice of the best available, all aligned to state standards, and rigorously developed to yield useful results: valid assessment data capable of informing instruction.

Ultimately, our items are designed to provide educators with reliable and fair measures of students' progress toward the attainment of skills required to be college and career ready. By 2012, all of our items will be aligned with the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Full CCSS alignment will contribute to what already makes our items the best available:

• Developed through a rigorous content and editorial review process
• Designed according to industry standards for good item writing
• Written to state standards
• Measuring a range of cognitive levels with items that vary in difficulty

 

The Formative Assessment Item Bank Owned by NWEA™

The Industry's Gold Standard

Highly accurate, reliable test data results from well-built assessments using high-quality items. With The Formative Assessment Item Bank Owned by NWEA™ teachers and kids can realize the power of formative assessment while fulfilling the promise of what smart testing is all about: improving learning and teaching.

Item Bank News Flash! Effective July 1, 2011:

The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) has reached agreement with the Educational Testing Service (ETS), to purchase four learning, assessment and professional development programs. NWEA will now assume operation and ownership of what used to be ETS' item bank. Click Here to learn more.

New from NWEA™ for the 2011 – 2012 Academic Year!

• 650+ new items across World Geography, World History, Economics, Government, and American History
• Spanish translations for Math/Science/ELA items, Grades 3-5
• ELA Items with a high school focus
• Math Items with an Algebra focus
• Science items with a Middle School Focus
• 1,300+ new ELA and Science items for Grades 3-12

SchoolCity's California Consortium Item Bank

By CA Educators for CA Assessments

• 15,000 items
• Affordably Priced
• Developed in partnership with the Santa Clara County Office of Education
• Math, ELA, and Science, Grades 2-12
• Items created & vetted for the CSTs by California teachers and assessment specialists
• Algebra I, Algebra II, & Geometry items
• Distracter Rationales for each item
• Classified by Bloom's Taxonomy and Item-Level Difficulty