• Used to compare students nationally
  • Can show students strength or weaknesses are
  • Know if students are making grade-level expectations
  • Know which schools are most effective and which schools need funding
  • Can help teachers and administrators make decisions regarding the instructional program offered at their schools
  • Help schools measure how students in a given class, school or school district perform in relation to other students who take the test
  • some of the test questions measure students’ mastery of basic skills, their main purpose is to see how schools are teaching
  • students are learning the state’s academic content standard standards in four subjects: English language arts, mathematics, science, and history/social science.
  • STAR results form the basis of the stat’s public school ranking system and are used to determine whether schools are meeting student achievement goals.
  • the state is relying on STAR scores to measure whether schools have shown “adequate yearly progress,” which is required by the federal government under the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT(NCLB).
  • possibility and opportunity for students in grades 9-11 to receive scholarships for post-secondary education.