This test is useful to use in many ways. 

Using just the STAR test:

  1. SENCO/Target students - the ability to assess the students' strengths and needs i.e. good at decoding but not making meaning
  2. School-wide thinking - strengths and needs in the teaching of reading as students progress through the school - what gets better and what does not
  3. Classroom analysis - identifying cohort strengths and needs across important reading components - are groups or individual students students progressing evenly across the components 


Using the STAR test in conjunction with other PATs for focused inquiry:

  1. PAT:Reading Comprehension - the Reading Comprehension test presents finite texts to students to understandis they can make meaning across and beyond the different texts - narratives, poems, instructions etc and the questions are retrieval,and local and global inference. If students are working well above or well below, choosing the STAR test that matches their level of ability may help identify strengths and needs to be able to develop next steps.
  2. PAT:Mathematics - students achieving well in Mathematics becomes more dependent on their ability to make meaning of the instructions. Maths tests can be read to students, however, if teachers want to know if reading is the barrier for student progress, sitting STAR alongside will give insight into students' abilities to decode, make meaning, and their levels of vocabulary.
  3. PAT:Punctuation & Grammar - students who perform badly on this test may be struggling to make meaning at this level therefore the punctuation and grammar is beyond their reach. Choosing a STAR test at their level of ability will help provide insight into the level of punctuation and grammar their next learning steps should be.


See Interpreting the Subtest reports.