It’s critical to know as soon as possible which students are on track to graduate ready to meet the challenges of college or career and which ones may need additional help. The earlier in the school year—and, perhaps more importantly, the earlier in a student’s academic career—that educators get this information, the more opportunities they have to provide extra support, personalize instruction, and ultimately accelerate learning.
Both ACT and the College Board have set college and career readiness benchmarks for their college entrance exams to help identify students who are more likely to achieve success in college or career. 1 However, many students don’t take these assessments until their junior year of high school, giving educators little time to improve student performance.
Researchers at Renaissance have linked Star Reading and Star Math to the ACT college admissions test for English, reading, and mathematics as well as the SAT college admissions test for evidence-based reading and writing (ERW) and mathematics. (For more information about the linking process, download the technical reports for the ACT and SAT.)
Starting in sixth grade, you can enter students’ Star scores into this free tool to see if they are on track to reach college and career readiness benchmarks on both the ACT and the SAT.