Stokes Beard Technology and Communication Magnet School is increasing the level of rigor and relevance in instruction by using the following programs:
CASE Benchmark Assessments:
CASE Benchmark Assessments for grades kindergarten through high school are available for English Language Arts and Mathematics. CASE Benchmark Assessments provides pre-made or custom benchmarks based on a district’s or school’s needs. Other features include:
- The majority of questions measure higher order thinking.
- Questions are tightly aligned with state standards (College- and Career-Ready Standards/Common Core Standards).
- Content vocabulary is appropriate for the subject/level.
i-Ready makes the promise of differentiated instruction a practical reality for teachers and students. It was designed to get students excited about learning, and to support teachers in the challenge of meeting the needs of all learners. Through the power of one intuitive system whose pieces were built from the ground up to work together, teachers have the tools they need to ensure students are on the road to proficiency.
In a single program, i-Ready:
- integrates powerful assessments and rich insights with effective and engaging instruction in reading and mathematics to address students’ individual needs.
- empowers teachers every day to make more informed instructional decisions.
- motivates students with access to their own personalized path to growth.
Renaissance Star Reading:
Star Reading is a cloud-based assessment of the reading achievement of students in grades K–12. A computer-adaptive test, Star Reading allows educators to assess students’ reading comprehension, overall reading achievement, and a wide range of discrete reading skills that are aligned to state and national curriculum standards, in an average of 11 to 18 minutes, depending on grade. This computer-based progress-monitoring assessment provides immediate feedback to educators and administrators on each student’s reading development.
Renaissance Star Math:
Star Math is a computer-adaptive test and database that helps educators assess students’ mathematical abilities in an average of 20 minutes. Aligned to state and national curriculum standards, this cloud-based assessment provides educators with an estimate of developed math skills, tracks growth in a consistent manner longitudinally for all students, and assesses math achievement relative to national norms
Renaissance Star Early Literacy:
Star Early Literacy is a cloud-based, computer-adaptive assessment designed to measure the early literacy skills of beginning readers in grades pre-K–3 and struggling readers in higher grades. It aims to address accurately the need to determine children’s mastery of literacy concepts that are directly related to their future success as readers. Star Early Literacy assesses proficiency in three broad domains (word knowledge and skills, comprehension strategies and constructing meaning, and numbers and operations) which include ten key early literacy sub-domains involving 41 different sets of skills or concepts in about 15 minutes.
Renaissance Accelerated Reader:
Accelareated Reader, the company’s flagship software, is a reading practice program that enhances students’ reading comprehension, language, vocabulary development, and general knowledge. It determines whether a student has read a book through comprehension quizzes and is computer-scored. Educators collaborate with students to set personalized reading practice goals based on students’ reading levels. Students select books within their reading range, read independently, and then take short, computerized comprehension quizzes. After each quiz, educators and students are able to see progress toward reading goals
Stokes Beard infuses and integrates technology into student learning and instruction.