STAR Interpreting Core Scoring Metrics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A stanine score of 5 on the STAR assessment places a student in which category?
- Well below average
- Average (Correct answer)
- Above average
- Far above average
Correct answer: Average
Stanine 5 is the middle stanine and represents the average range of performance.
Question 2: A school's API (Academic Performance Index) growth target is based on which STAR scoring concept?
- Raw score totals across the school
- Percentage of students scoring Proficient or above (Correct answer)
- Average stanine of the school
- Total number of Advanced students
Correct answer: Percentage of students scoring Proficient or above
API calculations weight the proportion of students scoring at Proficient or above as a key growth metric.
Question 3: On a STAR report, what does a student's Lexile score primarily measure?
- Mathematical reasoning ability
- Reading comprehension level matched to text complexity (Correct answer)
- Science inquiry skills
- Writing mechanics
Correct answer: Reading comprehension level matched to text complexity
The Lexile score measures a student's reading ability and can be matched to books at the appropriate complexity level.
Question 4: Which statement correctly describes the relationship between a scale score and a raw score on the STAR assessment?
- Raw scores are always higher than scale scores
- Scale scores are statistically adjusted raw scores that allow year-to-year comparison (Correct answer)
- They are identical numbers reported differently
- Raw scores reflect performance bands; scale scores reflect correct answers
Correct answer: Scale scores are statistically adjusted raw scores that allow year-to-year comparison
Scale scores are derived from raw scores through equating, enabling consistent comparisons across different test forms and years.
Question 5: A student's STAR ELA score is reported as 'Far Below Basic.' What performance level comes directly above this?
- Proficient
- Basic (Correct answer)
- Advanced
- Approaching Basic
Correct answer: Basic
The STAR performance levels from lowest to highest are: Far Below Basic, Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, Advanced.
Question 6: Two students both scored at the 65th percentile on STAR Math in different years. Can we conclude they performed equally?
- Yes, the same percentile means the same performance
- No, the norm groups for different years may differ (Correct answer)
- Yes, percentile ranks are absolute measures
- No, because percentile ranks only apply to ELA
Correct answer: No, the norm groups for different years may differ
Percentile ranks are norm-referenced, so a 65th percentile in one year reflects comparison to that year's norm group, which may differ from another year.
Question 7: What does a student's STAR score report mean when it shows 'NS' (No Score)?
- The student scored at the national standard
- The student did not meet minimum requirements to generate a valid score (Correct answer)
- The student achieved a perfect score
- The student was absent but given a default score
Correct answer: The student did not meet minimum requirements to generate a valid score
NS indicates the student did not provide enough responses to generate a reliable, valid score for reporting.
STAR Interpreting Core Scoring Metrics 3
A stanine score of 5 on the STAR assessment places a student in which category?