Dear Oyster River Parents and Guardians,
 
Our goal at Oyster River Cooperative School District (ORCSD) is to work collaboratively to engage every learner. In conjunction with the State of New Hampshire’s legislation to closely monitor the development of literacy and math skills, the ORCSD regularly conducts brief screening and progress monitoring assessments to ensure students are progressing in their acquisition of skills. 

Assessment dates are available by grade level on the district's Assessment webpage.
 
Acadience, STAR, the NH SAS, and the PSAT/SAT testing are the four districtwide assessments administered at the ORCSD. The Acadience and STAR Assessments are curriculum-based measurements that are used for benchmarking at regular intervals and monitoring progress, allowing for long-term instructional goals with an end grade level objective. The NH SAS and the SAT are statewide assessments administered to certain grade levels at the local level by our faculty and staff. The PSAT’s are optional tests that are administered for merit scholarship and SAT preparation. These are summative snapshots of a student’s learning and performance.   
  
Individual student scores are one of several measures that are used to help teachers and families understand student progress. The ORCSD Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Teams can also use the STAR, Acadience, and SAS, as well as other data, to assess student growth and achievement. As a parent, you will be provided with this data as only one point of information about your student’s academic achievement.   
  
Acadience Reading is ORCSD’s dyslexia screener, used as one point of information to identify students at risk for reading difficulty. It is administered three times a year for students in kindergarten and 1st grade and two times a year for students in 2nd and 3rd grades. Acadience Math is a universal math screener administered to students in kindergarten and 1st grade. For more information, please visit Acadience Learning. 
  
STAR is typically administered three times a year to students in 2nd to 9th grade.  For frequently asked questions, please see below. For more information, please visit Star Assessments Family Resource | Renaissance 
  
SAS statewide test is administered in the spring. Your child participates in the New Hampshire Statewide Assessment System (NH SAS) assessment in English language arts (reading and writing) and mathematics in grades 3-8 and in science for students in grades 5, 8, and 10. For frequently asked questions, please view NH DOE.  
  
SAT statewide test is administered to the 11th grade in the spring during the school day assessment. For frequently asked questions, please visit NH DOE School Day SAT. 
  
In addition to the STAR, SAS, and the SAT, the high school offers the 11th grade the PSAT/NMSQT test in the fall and the 10th grade the PSAT in the spring, during the school day. The PSAT/NMSQT is the exact same test as the PSAT 10—except that a sufficiently high score on the PSAT/NMSQT can qualify students for a National Merit Scholarship. The PSAT is primarily used for practice for the SAT and can help identify areas of strength and growth for the SAT preparation. For further information, please visit the College Board.  
  
Civics Test Requirement for Graduation. All students must pass a locally developed competency assessment in civics, as well as the naturalization examination developed by the 2020 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with a 70 percent or better.  The assessments are administered in social studies courses and can occur between September 1, 2026, and December 23, 2026, and January 25 to July 16, 2027.  
  
Frequently Asked Questions about the STAR Assessment
 
How long does it take to complete a STAR assessment? 

• STAR tests are designed to be as efficient as possible. On average, students will complete the STAR Math Enterprise test in about 20 minutes, the STAR Reading Enterprise test in about 15 minutes, or the STAR Early Literacy test in 10 minutes. However, some students may require more time.  

What are STAR assessments used for? 

• The STAR assessments are often used to screen students for their reading and math achievement levels. STAR assessments can also be used to monitor your child’s growth throughout the year, to estimate their understanding of state standards, and predict their performance on the state test. In addition, STAR can help your child’s teacher determine appropriate instructional levels and skills that your child is ready to learn. 

What kind of score does my child get? 

• For every STAR assessment, a student receives a scaled score (SS), which is based on the difficulty of the questions and the number of correct answers. Scaled scores are useful for comparing your child’s performance over time and across grades. STAR offers educators a variety of scores and reports. Some STAR scores compare your child’s performance to specific criteria or to a standard (criterion-referenced scores). STAR reports also include scores comparing your child’s performance to other students who have taken the same test (norm-referenced scores). The criterion- and norm-referenced scores are based on the scaled score.  

How can I help my child prepare for a STAR assessment? 

• The teacher who gives the test uses pre-test instructions to explain the test to your child. It is important for you to encourage your child to try their best on the assessment. Since STAR is a general measure of student ability in math or reading, students perform best on the assessment in the same way they perform best in school—when they have had plenty of rest, attend school regularly, and have eaten. 

How will I know how my child is doing? 

• Scores will be sent home for students who take the STAR tests. As well, teachers may share this information during a parent/teacher conference. Due to federal privacy laws, Renaissance Learning is not able to release individual students' data directly to parents. 

Respectfully,

Suzanne Filippone            Jenn Bordis

Interim Superintendent        Curriculum Coordinator