Palm Springs Unified presents fall STAR benchmark; district outlines targeted reading and math interventions

Palm Springs, Calif. — The Palm Springs Unified School District Board of Education on Sept. 9 reviewed early fall Renaissance STAR benchmark results and district plans to address persistent achievement gaps in reading and math.

The district reported that 32.8% of students scored at the “met or exceeded” level on the fall STAR reading benchmark, 21.9% were at “nearly met,” and 45.3% at “not met.” Mark Arnold, the district’s executive director of student learning, told the board the STAR diagnostic is “kind of that indicator of how well students may be doing on the CAASPP assessment.”

The benchmark is a computer‑adaptive diagnostic administered in the fall, winter and spring to monitor progress and to provide indicators that correlate with the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), district staff said. Arnold and staff emphasized that results in early September reflect end‑of‑year standards and that students have the school year to show growth if…