Instructure is an educational software company based in Sandy, Utah. It is the developer of the Canvas learning management system, which is a comprehensive software package that competes with such systems as Blackboard Learning System, SumTotal and Saba.
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Renaissance Star Assessments
Score 9.7 out of 10
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Renaissance Star 360® assessments are designed to provide the achievement and growth data educators need for screening, progress monitoring, and guiding instruction in the least amount of testing time. The vendor says, quick, clear data reporting simplifies educators’ processes for setting goals, monitoring progress, and identifying students in need of intervention. Users can track how students are responding to intervention and instruction using a research-based growth model to help set…
Last year we used Let's Go Learn. I do prefer this program. The tests are easy to administer and the data is clear and easy to use. We used Renaissance in the past with AR reading and Math. I do miss those programs. It is not a direction the district was going in.
It is really well suited for school situations like knowing what [assignments] need to be done when, getting feedback, getting points, finding the slides that the teacher used for explaining an [assignment] or theory. I think It would be less suited in business situations because it's [primarily] made to be a [one-way] communication tool for schools. Businesses need more control on individual levels I think[.]
Star Math is good for providing baseline and growth data to help create individual pathways for students to address gaps created the past couple of years. This data can also be compared to state assessment results and other local data to get a better picture of the whole students and any concerns which may be identified.
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.
The graphs for each subject are not consistently the same. (ie. some graphs are by 5s and some are by 50s.) It's very confusing to read them.
The questions are not rigorous enough for state standards.
Different reports will show data that does not align. If 'state' is chosen, then all reports should show the same data. The Parent Report will show the child in 'green', but every sub-skill is in 'red'. That is super confusing for parents and teachers.
All reports should be based on the same score, but they are not. It is like comparing apples to oranges on the same child.
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.
I give it this rating because it is an essential program in our school. We set up reading groups throug( the Star assessment. We set goals based on the assessment. Students comfort zones are based on the zpd data in Star. We track students progress through the data found in Star.
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
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.
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
After using the product for multiple years, I am very pleased with the assessment administration and report options. I use STAR Assessment data regularly and review the different reports to guide instruction. There are many different report options to help meet the needs of the teacher and student. STAR Assessments are a valuable assessment tool for the classroom
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
When presenters show us how to use the program they need to have a full class size of data. During training, there were only 5 or 6 sample students. Classes are more like 25 and that makes the training more realistic to have similar data to what we will use.
Canvas is more secure, has a cleaner design, and has more features. For the features, they have in common canvas still stacks up against [Smart school] by going for the extra mile. Besidfor e that, [the] canvas looks a lot more [professional] than [Smart school]. I didn't make the decision myself to get canvas instead of [Smart school] but I'm happy they did.
We have used a few products like NWEA/Map, Lexia Rapid, Curriculum Associates/ i-Ready Diagnostics. Renaissance/Star360 stacks up to all of them, but doesn't exceed them. Star360 has less basic features (like school level grouping, exporting reports as a csv file, saving previous student data) but has some very good specific features compared to the others (like quick testing time, a variety of quick, good classroom level reports for teachers). They all have pluses and minuses, so it depends on the issue/feature is most important to you. NWEA/Map: the plus is complete previous data accessibility and export and compatibility in that most district in the county as well as our ISD use it., minus is the length of time it takes to test. Lexia Rapid: the plus is it gives very detailed breakdown of information in a relatively short test; the minus is it is VERY limited in scope (Reading at the k-2 level). Curriculum Associates/iReady Diagnostic: the plus is it has an integrated, ongoing online instruction piece that is tailored based on the diagnostic assessment results; the minus is that it does not give any good summary data (it gives individual scores and levels, but no class or grade average scores etc.) and it does not statistically adjust the normed scores (percentiles) for weeks of instruction or date test is taken in relation to the norm study. Renaissance/ Star360: the plus is that is it a quick assessment leaving more time for student instruction, it has a variety of good, detailed classroom level reports, and it interpolates the results to account for the exact testing date in relation to their norming study; the minus is that it does not keep records of previous students (even for the remainder of the current school year), it does not allow reports to be exported in any manipulable form (only pdf), and its lack of well functioning school wide grouping.
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.
