Canvas vs Renaissance Star Assessments | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 8.5 out of 10

Based on 196 reviews and ratings

Score 9.4 out of 10

Based on 62 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Course authoring

Course catalog or library

Player/Portal

Learning content

Mobile friendly

Progress tracking & certifications

Assignments

Compliance management

Learning administration

Learning reporting & analytics

Social learning

Pros

Creativity options for teachers to create a virtual space that still has fun graphics and accessibility options.
Canvas has versatility in viewing options for assignment due dates such as the calendar built in feature as well as the dashboard options to display upcoming and due assignments.
Allowing teachers to create community with each other and collaborate in each-other's space.
Discussion platforms within classrooms for students to communicate with each-other and with their teachers.
Easy messaging portal within each virtual classroom.

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Verified User

Professional in Other

Education Management Company, 1-10 employees

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They assess without requiring excessive amounts of time, leaving more time for actual learning and instruction.
There are a variety of reports available for different needs.
Their norm data and percentile measures are statistically adjusted for weeks of instruction/ date the test is taken in relation to the norming study.

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Verified User

Professional in Other

Education Management Company, 201-500 employees

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Cons

Their integration with Big Blue Button was a bust for distance learning. Would be great to see them collaborate with Zoom or Google Meets.
Their "feature request" process is slow and cumbersome at times because it relies on user "up votes" to get ideas addressed by the developers.
They seem to have a lot of turn-over with their staff. We get a new Customer Success Manager far more frequently than with other vendors.

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Patrick Woessner

Coordinator of Instructional Technology

Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day SchoolEducation Management, 201-500 employees

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I would love to see an RTI progress monitoring option available in the platform.
I would enjoy students being able to select from a choice of pre-calculated goals before testing.
I think it would be awesome for STAR to provide student-friendly graphs of their progress over time.

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Verified User

Employee in Other

Primary/Secondary Education Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Canvas 9.3

Based on 5 answers

The other LMS tools have fallen behind. One reason is they are not able to update their systems, features, toolsets in a timely manner. While other LMS providers release bug fixes and new features several times a year, schools struggle to install and implement them in a timely manner. It is not uncommon for a school to take 6 months to a year to fully install and implement new releases on other LMS platforms. With Canvas, those features are released every 3 weeks, and there is nothing for a school to do other than choose to turn them on once released. This has allowed Instructure to innovate faster, and get new features and tools to customers quicker. Other factors include great pricing, customer support, and the innovative way in which LTI is implemented in the tool.

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Director - Teaching and Learning Technology

Utah State UniversityHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Renaissance Star Assessments 6.7

Based on 3 answers

I feel that is has been a very useful resource for data management in our school. It has helped the students and teachers recognize what needs to be addressed and what they already know so far that school year. I feel that this has been extremely helpful on many different levels.

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Annmarie Grieco

Elementary School Teacher

Edgewater schoolsEducation Management, 201-500 employees

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Usability

Canvas 9.1

Based on 7 answers

The functions in Canvas are well integrated and consistent across the application, and mostly intuitive. Overall navigation and setup is streamlined through integrated features and navigation. The feedback we've gotten from our program participants is that it is easy to learn to use. It also integrates well with third party software like Google Docs and Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing software

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Online Instructional Designer

World SavvyEducation Management, 11-50 employees

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Renaissance Star Assessments 8.1

Based on 2 answers

I love the idea that it takes only a short period of time for the students to be able to take the quizzes and obtain results. I appreciative how quickly the teacher has plans on implementation in her/his hands as soon as the class has completed the quiz.

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Gengie Wiedenfeld

Librarian/College Professor

Notre Dame Catholic School (Pre-K - 8)/Alamo Community CollegeEducation Management, 11-50 employees

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Reliability and Availability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Renaissance Star Assessments 10.0

Based on 2 answers

Never have issues with the program

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Mathematics Teacher

Granite Public SchoolsPrimary/Secondary Education, 11-50 employees

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Performance

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Renaissance Star Assessments 10.0

Based on 2 answers

I absolutely love this program

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Mathematics Teacher

Granite Public SchoolsPrimary/Secondary Education, 11-50 employees

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Support Rating

Canvas 8.9

Based on 14 answers

I do not personally use Canvas support since we have a central office that helps us. However, our central office always has the answers we need and are always able to solve our issues - so I would assume that get great support from the Canvas team on their end. They also offer great training, which uses materials directly from Canvas

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Alumni Development Manager, College of Education

Florida State UniversityEducation Management, 1001-5000 employees

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Renaissance Star Assessments 7.9

Based on 16 answers

I joined the Renaissance online community so that has given me lots of ideas. However, I still have to search through tons of posts and discussion threads to find what I need. Online help is available to teachers to find what you are looking for but it is often hard to explain in a chat bubble what you need exactly. I think teacher support is lacking.

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Verified User

Professional in Other

Primary/Secondary Education Company, 51-200 employees

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In-Person Training

Canvas 10.0

Based on 1 answer

The training sessions were broken down into several days as well as different levels depending upon the knowledge of the user

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Bethany Cleveland, PhD

Adjunct Professor

Auburn UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Online Training

Canvas 8.0

Based on 1 answer

The online tutorials and videos are very clear and addressed the issues/questions that I had about using the system.

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Bethany Cleveland, PhD

Adjunct Professor

Auburn UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

The training staff is very knowledgeable

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Mathematics Teacher

Granite Public SchoolsPrimary/Secondary Education, 11-50 employees

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Implementation Rating

Canvas 8.3

Based on 4 answers

Once you purchase and sign the contract there is nothing to install or hardware to buy. You can almost immediately start using it and have courses up and going within weeks. We signed in December and had pilot courses online ready to go for the start of school in January

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Director - Teaching and Learning Technology

Utah State UniversityHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Renaissance Star Assessments 10.0

Based on 3 answers

It helped that we created a school testing calendar for each grade level and subject matter. In this way, everyone was taking a quiz at a specific time.

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Gengie Wiedenfeld

Librarian/College Professor

Notre Dame Catholic School (Pre-K - 8)/Alamo Community CollegeEducation Management, 11-50 employees

View all 3 answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

Canvas provided the most modern UI, which remains intuitive despite holding a significant feature set. The ability to manage a portfolio of online courses through the blueprinting feature really set this apart from our past LMS's, which provided significant cost savings and investment in hiring personnel. Ease of use and mobile friendly approach provided massive advantages that truly shone through as the pandemic hit and all faculty at all of our locations were required to use the LMS significantly. We are incredibly grateful to have been with Canvas during this time.

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Director, Center for Teaching & Learning; Asst. Profess

Lancaster Bible CollegeHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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We receive a grant to use Renaissance Star 360 in our schools. Since we receive the grant, we have not used or evaluated other programs at this time. We have been pleased with the growth that our students have shown in the areas of math and reading and are happy with the product.

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Instructional Coach

St. Bonaventure Catholic SchoolEducation Management, 51-200 employees

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Scalability

Canvas 8.0

Based on 1 answer

No answer on this topic is available.

Renaissance Star Assessments 10.0

Based on 1 answer

Great overall program with lots of advice in implementation

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Mathematics Teacher

Granite Public SchoolsPrimary/Secondary Education, 11-50 employees

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Return on Investment

Canvas has helped us provide a more robust online component to our courses.
Canvas has helped us better adapt to a rapidly changing educational landscape.
Canvas has reduced the time that we have to spend training faculty on how to use our learning management system.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 501-1000 employees

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Teachers throughout the school have a better idea about the reading strengths and challenges of individual students. They can make better instructional decisions to meet the needs of their students.
Students are more aware of their own reading ability and the purpose of reading instruction at the secondary level.
Parents have a better understanding of reading growth occurring each year.

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Alecia Walkuski

English Teacher

CTHSSEducation Management, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

Yes

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

Canvas

Renaissance Star Assessments

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