About+STAR+and+AR+in+school

STAR and AR is a technology-based school improvement and student assessment program for grades kindergarten through 12th. Renaissance Place is the leading provider of this type of program.

Many parents are confused by the terms the students share at home. The aim of this page is to give a brief definition to the terms and uses of the program and define the difference between AR and guided reading in school.

STAR/AR in the past had been used very extensively. There is less focus on this program district-wide with some schools not using it at all. Some Corral Drive Teachers use the Renaissance program as a tool to extend reading in the classroom. The program can also help teachers assess a student's progress. Teachers do NOT use the program for grading purposes.

STAR - a computerized reading assessment that uses multiple choice questions, automatically adjusts the difficulty level to student responses and takes about 10 minutes. AR - Accelerated Reader - the program of reading quizzes design to assess the reader's comprehension of books at their **independent** reading level.

[|STAR/AR Parent Information]

When searching the [|Corral Drive Library] catalog, searches can be tailored to AR by selecting it under the Reading Programs dropdown. If a books has an AR quiz available to our school then the record with show the Accelerated Reading level and points given.

Guided reading is a large focus in the schools. Students are reading books that are their **instructional** level and will probably need teacher assistance to decode new vocabulary and understand more complex comprehension skills.

[|Scholastic Guided Level search] Search the title of a book and find it's guided reading level. Not all books in the catalog are leveled.

The following three links may help you understand reading comprehension levels with some definitions [|Four Reading Levels] [|Levels of Comprehension] [|What do reading levels mean?]