Teaching and Learning

Accelerated Reader and STAR Assessments (Years 5 and 7)

St Pius X College, Chatswood is committed to helping every student develop strong reading skills and a genuine love of reading. From Term 2, we will begin using Accelerated Reader and STAR Reading Assessments with students in Year 5 and Year 7 to support and monitor reading growth.

STAR Reading is a short, online assessment that provides teachers with an overall picture of a student’s current reading level and skills. In Term 2, students will sit a 20-30 minute adaptive test consisting of 35-word recognition, vocabulary and comprehension questions. This adaptive test will be repeated in Term 4, allowing the College to identify strengths, target areas for improvement and track progress over time.

Following this, students will be provided with a reading score and encouraged to read texts that fall within an appropriate and challenging range. After finishing a text, students will use Accelerated Reader to complete a short online quiz to check understanding and comprehension. English teachers and Teacher Librarians will monitor reading practice, quiz results and progress, providing feedback to students to encourage consistent reading habits.

St Pius X College is introducing these initiatives to provide a clear, consistent measure of reading progress over time and to build reading confidence, fluency and comprehension.

STAR Reading Assessments and Accelerated Reader will be completed during Year 7 English and Year 5 Library lessons, with students guided through the process by their classroom teacher and the Junior or Senior Teacher Librarians.

For those students wanting a head start on the program, any reading done over the holidays can be recorded in the student diary (title and author) and signed off by a parent or guardian as evidence. Reading must be current and not include books read previously. Students can choose to read titles again if they wish to include these titles as part of Accelerated Reader. To check if a book title is part of the Accelerated Reader program, click here.

Next Term, parents will be able to sign up for Home Connect via Renaissance Learning to receive updates on their son’s progress. For more information, please see the Renaissance Website:

https://www.renaissance.com.au/star-assessments/

https://www.renaissance.com.au/accelerated-reader/

If you have any questions about Accelerated Reader or STAR Reading Assessment, please contact the College to discuss.

Mr Stephen Davidson - Assistant Principal, Teaching and Learning