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Renaissance Star Assessments vs. Skillsoft Coaching

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Renaissance Star Assessments

    Score9.4 out of 10
    N/AStar Assessments are a suite of assessments for reading, math, and early literacy, in both English and Spanish, boasting users among over 30,000 schools. Star Assessments helps educators to gain accurate insights into student learning, growth, and achievement—so they can help all learners reach their full potential. The full Star Assessment suite includes the computer-adaptive Star Reading (K–12), Star Math (K–12), and Star Early Literacy (pre-K–3) assessments; a formative assessment tool, Star…N/A

    Skillsoft Coaching

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AThe Skillsoft coaching platform consists of enhanced content, human and AI coaches, and technology. It includes the Skillsoft Leadership Development Program powered by MIT Sloan Management Review.N/A
    Pricing
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSkillsoft Coaching
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSkillsoft Coaching
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSkillsoft Coaching
    Considered Both Products
    Renaissance Learning
    No answer on this topic
    Skillsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    48 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    46 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    30 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    90%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSkillsoft Coaching
    Small Businesses
    Renaissance Accelerated Reader
    Score9.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Renaissance Accelerated Reader
    Score9.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Renaissance Accelerated Reader
    Score9.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSkillsoft Coaching
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.4
    (71 ratings)
    9.0
    (11 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (9 ratings)
    8.8
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    9.2
    (9 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (15 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.8
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Renaissance Star AssessmentsSkillsoft Coaching
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Renaissance Learning
    Renaissance Star Assessments are great for students who already know English and know how to use a device, especially a tablet. The children can listen to the question, choose an answer, then move on to the next question. These assessments are less appropriate for students learning English as a second language. Since the questions are in English, and most students primarily speak another language, they do not understand the questions and get many of them wrong. As a result, they score low and it appears as if the child has not been learning when in fact the low score is due to a language barrier. I think there should also be some type of block to choosing an answer until after the question is presented because some children like to press answers before the question is finished and then try to move on. I think having the answers be unclickable before the question is finished would be a benefit for the children to pay more attention to the question.
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    Skillsoft
    They have a large library - make sure you clearly study the library offerings and choose the courses that are best for you as you will never be able to use all of them. Make sure you survey your user base before purchasing the licensing of the library courses so the courses are 'marked' with an employee in mind to keep costs minimized. Only purchase the Books 24x7 if you have a large IT department - otherwise you might want to lease a smaller content portion. Their Leadership Development, Project Management, business series and critical thinking and technical products are exceptional.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Renaissance Learning
    • Renaissance Star Assessments gives me a look at each student as an overall reader.
    • Renaissance Star Assessments shows me the areas of which my students are struggling.
    • Renaissance Star Assessments is linked with Nearpod, so I can assign lessons based on what each student needs.
    • Star CBM helps me see whether my students' fluency is improving or not.
    Incentivized
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    Skillsoft
    • Covers a wide-breadth of topics ranging from desktop / office skills to communications skills to leadership development
    • Offers knowledge portals (Knowledge Centers) around specific topic areas such as Management Development, Six Sigma, Professional Foundations, Sales, etc - that aggregate content from the large Skillsoft resources and present it in a way that is both meaningful and relevant to the learners. Plus, they have editors update the featured topic each month.
    • Include a wide variety of learning media such as eLearning courses, books, book summaries and videos.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Renaissance Learning
    • 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.
    Incentivized
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    Skillsoft
    • The platform does have room to improve their response time for assistance. Depending on the issue an internal "help team may be required"
    • They removed what was called "knowledge centers" which could be summed up as an accumulation of books, courses, exams, practice exams, articles and basically any asset within the platform surrounded by a particular subject. This was a great benefit to some of our customer. It was a one-stop-shop but now you would need to search independently for all of those assets.
    • Because the platforms library can be customized its a bit of a struggle to have certain assets changed or modified within Skillsoft. You basically are on their time when it comes to updates or any major changes you as a customer would like to make.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Renaissance Learning
    Star Assessments and Renaissance is the best educational products at this time. They are found worldwide, easy to use and informational for districts teachers and families. Information will follow a student if they change districts and give previous information to new districts and teachers
    Incentivized
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    Skillsoft
    I would recommend to renew as this is part of our employee development goals and we make a strong commitment to develop employees' people skills. I think SkillSoft has a very innovative approach to develop people's interpersonal skills other than traditional classroom learning.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Renaissance Learning
    It is very user friendly and intuitive. I have had minimal training on the system and was able to access many of the features. I was able to easily create student accounts and set up testing for our students. I was able to find appropriate reports that provide the right data for our team and our parents.
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    Skillsoft
    There are things that could be easier. Having a more customizable carousel that can rotate relevant content in and out on a regular basis would be nice. They could also make some of the video content more engaging. Some of it is pretty dull and people can lose interest pretty fast.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Renaissance Learning
    It’s wonderful
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    Skillsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Renaissance Learning
    I absolutely love this program
    Incentivized
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    Skillsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Renaissance Learning
    I have been very happy with the support. By phone or email I have found the support very good and they get back to me quickly. This survey however is wa6 overdone, expecting me to come up with 50 words on each question. It becomes very repetitive and very laborious.
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    Skillsoft
    Very responsive, knowledge and helpful. They are always focused on ensuring they are doing the very best to support our success.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Renaissance Learning
    I just feel this way.
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    Skillsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Renaissance Learning
    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.
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    Skillsoft
    Just that it takes a village. It cannot be done alone. Everyone needs to know what you are doing and what their role is in the implementation. Tightly managing the project management schedule and resources is important in ensuring that everything gets done on time, and with quality. Education is KEY
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Renaissance Learning
    Renaissance Star Math Assessment provided a proven data collection tool. This was also being used at the lower grades in our district, so it made sense to continue with its use to provide a more reliable and accurate picture of our students entering the middle school. The continuation of the data trail should continue to help their overall growth.
    Incentivized
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    Skillsoft
    We chose SkillSoft for the overall ease of use for both our users and our administrators and have a great value proposition. We have continued our contracts for the same reasons and the relationship we have built with our Learning Consultant and Account Representative.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Renaissance Learning
    Great overall program with lots of advice in implementation
    Incentivized
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    Skillsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Renaissance Learning
    • It has positively impacted student time to learn by reducing testing times and allowing more time for instruction
    • The reduced testing time also positively impacted our schools by freeing the computer labs and making the planning and creation of testing schedules easier. This has allowed more computer lab use for education and learning.
    • It has negatively impacted the time and effort required by support staff, administrators, and some teachers by requiring more time spent on looking up results or going to multiple spots and manually combining results because a larger group couldn't easily be made.
    • Another negative impact on our district is that it has also taxed those few educators with more technical ability and data knowledge moreso than other programs. The need to create/summarize/write programs to deal with full, raw data export files since the smaller, more specific reports and summaries are not downloadable into a format that can be manipulated easily (pdf only, not csv exports), and to constantly back up data exports and to have to search through them when the State wants results on past students etc.
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    Skillsoft
    • The ability to have on-demand training saves money in not having to have an in-house trainer.
    • Employees can complete training on their own time (even at home), so if they need more time for a training, they can complete it on their own time.
    Incentivized
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