The School District of Philadelphia’s Board of Education established Goals and Guardrails that outline achievement goals through the 2025-26 school year. Goals 1 and 3 of this framework aim to increase the percentage of students in grades 3-8 scoring Proficient or Advanced on the PSSA ELA and PSSA Math each year, respectively. Star Reading and Star Math results are used as “Leading Indicators” to track progress toward these goals. This report examines the statistical relationship between Star performance and PSSA performance in 2021-22.
Key findings include:
- The correlation between Star Reading and the PSSA ELA ranged from .73 to .80 across the 2021-22 Star testing windows (Fall, Winter 1, Winter 2, and Spring). The correlation between Star Math and PSSA Math ranged from .68 to .80.
- The estimated probability of scoring proficient or higher on the PSSA ELA given a score of At/Above Benchmark on Star Reading (highest performance level) varied by grade band: 72% to 85% for grades 3-5 and 87% to 93% for grades 6-8, across grades and testing windows. For grades 6-8, there was a relatively higher probability that students who scored below At/Above Benchmark would score proficient on the PSSA.
- The estimated probability of scoring proficient or higher on the PSSA Math given a score of At/Above Benchmark on Star Math ranged from 61% to 86% across grades and testing windows.
Click the button below to view the report titled Correlation and Classification Accuracy between the Star Computer Adaptive Tests and the PSSAs, 2021-22.