Universal screeners show who is at risk, but not where to provide extra support for each student. As part of a comprehensive approach to early literacy assessments, Star Phonics is both a screener and diagnostic assessment, pinpointing the exact phonics skills to target. This insight saves teachers time and helps students build reading skills faster in order to become successful readers.

Administer the phonics screener three times during a school year (beginning, middle, and end of year) alongside universal screening data collection to support phonics progress monitoring. Use the diagnostic assessment only when a teacher needs detailed insight into which phonics skills a student may need extra support to develop. The diagnostic can be given anytime to guide instruction.

Yes. Older students who struggle with reading may still need phonics support. Star Phonics from Renaissance helps identify gaps in decoding and letter patterns so teachers can implement effective phonics intervention strategies. Students need to master these foundational literacy skills to become strong, confident readers, so targeted practice is essential.

Yes. Our Using Star Phonics with Spanish-speaking students guide helps educators understand the difference between decoding challenges and normal language transfer patterns. This means teachers can give the right kind of support and accelerate English reading growth for Spanish-speaking students. 

The most accurate, fair, and efficient way to assess what students know about the building blocks of phonics—graphemes (letters) and phonemes (sounds)—is to ask them to read unfamiliar words, i.e., nonsense words. These words remove cultural bias and test decoding skills rather than memorization, resulting in an accurate measure of phonics knowledge.