STAR Early Literacy Assessment
STAR Early Literacy Assessment tests early literacy skills and is a valuable assessment tool for SLPs to use during a literacy evaluation.
The STAR Early Literacy Assessment is a standardized test that involves a series of engaging and interactive activities that are used to gain a measure of a child’s foundational reading skills.
The results of the test can be used by SLPs as a diagnostic tool for identifying a child’s strengths and potential goals for intervention. This allows speech-language pathologists to develop a comprehensive treatment plan for a client.
Ongoing progress monitoring can also be completed by SLPs through periodic re-assessment of the STAR Early Literacy Assessment. The clinician and the client’s parents can then view a child’s progress towards literacy development goals, and gain helpful insight about intervention strategies being used.
Let’s take a comprehensive look at one of the most commonly administered literacy assessments, the STAR Early Literacy Assessment. We’ll talk about the assessment’s design, how SLPs can interpret and apply the results of the assessment to therapy planning, and more.
But first, here’s a brief overview on early literacy development.
What does STAR Early Literacy mean?
Early literacy skills provide a foundation for a child’s reading and writing abilities later in life. These important skills are developed during a child’s early academic years. They form the building blocks needed for a child to become a strong reader.
Research shows that early literacy skills strongly predict a child’s future academic success. The skills involved in early literacy development have also been linked to higher graduation rates and enhanced productivity later in life.
Early literacy development includes several components, including:
- Phonemic awareness: The ability to identify and manipulate sounds in spoken words.
- Vocabulary development: Improve a child’s comprehension and expression during literacy-based tasks.
- Phonics: Matching sounds of spoken language with individual letters or groups of letters.
- Fluency: Ability to read text easily (includes accuracy, speed, expression, and comprehension).
- Comprehension: Ability to read, process, and understand the meaning of written text.
Speech-language pathologists play an important role in the development of a child’s early literacy skills. SLPs can conduct language and literacy evaluations using tools such as the STAR Early Literacy assessment. Through this, the SLP can identify and diagnose the presence of a literacy disorder.
SLPs can provide skilled intervention through weekly speech therapy sessions aimed at improving specific areas of literacy development needed for a child.
Understanding the STAR Early Literacy Assessment
The STAR Early Literacy Assessment Tool is a computer-based assessment designed to measure the early literacy skills of children from Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
The test assesses a child’s level of proficiency in 3 broad domains: Word knowledge and skills, comprehension strategies and constructing meaning, and numbers and operations.
Subdomains include:
- Alphabetic principle
- Concept of word
- Visual discrimination
- Phonemic awareness
- Phonics
- Vocabulary
- Early numeracy
The test is computer-based, and can be given in person or remotely. All questions on the test are presented in multiple-choice format, with 3 possible answers. Students are able to watch video tutorials that assist them with understanding how to use the technology format.
The assessment takes less than 20 minutes to complete, and involves graphics and audio support, so even a child who is not reading independently can participate. The STAR Early Literacy Assessment is adaptive, meaning the test items become harder or easier based on a child’s performance throughout the assessment.
The results of the assessment include: a scaled score, benchmark categories, percentile rank, grade equivalency, and domain scores. Domain scores are categorized as: Beginning (0-59% mastery), Developing (60-70% mastery), and Secure (80-100% mastery). The Renaissance Learning website provides additional information and resources regarding scoring procedures.
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Interpreting STAR Early Literacy results
Interpreting STAR Early Literacy Results can provide SLPs with valuable information about a child’s reading abilities. Performance levels on the assessment indicate what a child’s reading proficiency is, and are based on the child’s scaled scores.
By noting a child’s performance level in various areas of literacy development, parents and professionals can obtain a baseline measure for a child’s skills. This score can be compared to future results from the same assessment for growth monitoring throughout intervention.
It’s crucial to look specifically at a client’s strengths and weaknesses on the STAR Early Literacy Assessment. This is because the components of literacy development are interconnected, and therapists can identify areas of strength and difficulties.
Identify a child’s strengths by determining which areas of literacy the client scored as within normal limits. Domains and subdomains in which the child scored below normal on, or individual test items that were scored as incorrect can be considered difficulties. These areas can be used to formulate goals for intervention planning.
Application of STAR Early Literacy in speech language therapy
The results of the STAR Early Literacy Assessment can be examined by SLPs to identify the presence of early literacy delays and disorders in children.
Standard scores can be used to determine the severity rating for a possible diagnosis of a Specific Reading Disorder. The ICD-10 code F81.0 would be used to specify this medical diagnosis.
The code would be used to specify reading disorders including: Developmental dyslexia, developmental reading disorder, dyslexia, difficulty reading, specific reading disorder.
A child’s phonological awareness skills can be determined by looking at their performance on tasks such as rhyming, blending/counting/segmenting syllables, and isolating initial, final, and medial phonemes on the STAR Early Literacy Assessment.
Speech therapists may also be interested in looking at the child’s performance on various reading skills within the assessment. This includes: Phonics and Word Recognition, Fluency (such as comprehension and reading rate), and Vocabulary Acquisition and use (word relationships, multiple meaning words).
By comparing results of an initial administration of the STAR Early Literacy Assessment with future administrations, therapists can monitor a client’s progress towards goals. These results can also assist with evaluating the outcomes of interventions used during speech therapy.
Strategies for using STAR Early Literacy in speech therapy
The results of a client’s STAR Early Literacy Assessment can be used to create an individualized intervention plan. Areas of weakness (domains in which a client’s standard score is below average) can be targeted as goals during speech therapy.
It’s important for SLPs to note that as ASHA states, individuals can experience combined deficits in multiple areas of reading and writing. For example, deficits in word recognition often co-occur. Also, children who have difficulty reading words often have deficits in writing and spelling.
Identifying the client’s strengths should be a part of an individualized intervention plan. Considering these strengths can help the clinician develop intervention strategies. For instance, if a client demonstrates age-appropriate phonological awareness skills, the clinician can build off of these skills while targeting phonics and word recognition.
When targeting areas of difficulty from the STAR Early Literacy Assessment as therapy goals, speech therapists can follow best practices by incorporating evidence-based literacy instructional approaches.
The most commonly used intervention programs include:
- Orton-Gillingham Approach
- Wilson Reading System
- Sounds-Write
- Lindamood Bell
- Barton Reading and Spelling
Collaboration and communication with educators and parents
It’s important for SLPs to collaborate on the results of a client’s STAR Early Literacy results with the rest of a client’s interdisciplinary team, including parents, teachers, and other therapists.
Speech-language pathologists should also collaborate with the child’s literacy support team. This may include a teacher, tutor, and/or assistant providing group or individual reading support to the child at school.
By providing home-based literacy strategies and resources with a child’s parents, the child can continue practicing and developing their literacy skills outside of therapy. Sharing specific activities (such as sound manipulation activities for phonological awareness) and techniques (like using imagery to improve reading comprehension) can accelerate his or her progress.
Ethical considerations in using STAR Early Literacy
When administering the STAR Early Literacy Assessment, speech therapists should maintain cultural sensitivity and diversity. For instance, consider a client’s exposure to multiple languages, cultural background, native language, and prior cultural experiences when interpreting the results of the assessment.
Assessment data and results must be kept confidential to comply with HIPAA guidelines. Therapists must store record forms with identifying client information in a secure, confidential place, and only discuss results with caregivers or individuals authorized/involved in the child’s care.
SLPs should only interpret the results of a child’s STAR Early Literacy Assessment to create an individualized treatment plan if they have experience and training in the area of literacy. This is to ensure the therapist adheres to professional standards and guidelines.
The STAR Early Literacy Assessment is a valuable assessment tool that evaluates a child’s foundational reading skills by examining several different domains. Speech therapists can use the results to identify the presence of a literacy disorder and to guide intervention by contributing to goal development.
SLPs should stay committed to continued professional development in ways like becoming trained in literacy intervention methods, such as the Orton-Gillingham reading program. It’s also important to learn more about some of the most common assessments that speech therapists administer or interpret, such as the STAR Early Literacy Assessment.
Resources
SLPs can also use the teletherapy and practice management software TheraPlatform, an all-in-one EHR, practice management and teletherapy tool to complete documentation and billing for speech and language evaluations. Consider starting with a free trial of TheraPlatform today with no credit card required. Cancel anytime.
More resources
- Therapy resources and worksheets
- Therapy private practice courses
- Ultimate teletherapy ebook
- The Ultimate Insurance Billing Guide for Therapists
- The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Private Therapy Practice
