STAR (STudent Achievement in Reading) is entering its 11th year in Massachusetts! We’ve come a long way since 2010, when STAR was first introduced. Originally, the training was facilitated in person over six days. This evolved into a blended training, with only three days for face-to-face meetings and 30 self-paced online modules to complete. Due to COVID-19, the STAR training meetings are now being held remotely. Participants complete the online modules, post their results in the STAR training, and the STAR Massachusetts Certified Trainers read the posts and respond with suggestions and comments.

The SABES STAR FY21 training will begin in February 2021. See the calendar posting for all the details. Note that the only way to register is to send an email to Evonne Peters at epeters@qcc.mass.edu. Also, to participate, you will need students in the Intermediate GLE 4.0-8.9 or NRS levels 3 and 4. (During the training, you will learn about EBRI (Evidence-Based Reading Instruction), and you will need to practice these strategies on intermediate level students.)

STAR New Directors Webinar

If you are director or want to learn more about STAR, watch this short webinar. It will provide helpful information about how to implement STAR in your program, how to select an appropriate STAR teacher, and how to better support your teacher while he/she is participating in the training. Please register for this on the SABES calendar event page.

Teaching STAR Remotely

In September, we offered two trainings on how to teach STAR through remote instruction.  These trainings were only available to STAR-trained teachers. The first session covered how to teach Fluency and Vocabulary, and the second Alphabetics and Comprehension. If you missed these and are interested in viewing the archived versions, please reach out to epeters@qcc.mass.edu.

STAR Videos

Introducing: STAR Classroom Videos from Abisi Adult Learning Center in Lowell!  These are best practice videos from the classrooms of two STAR teachers: Maura McCabe and Christina Cronin, with director Betty McKiernan. Want to learn why they continue to teach STAR, and the progress students make? Watch these videos. Also, hear from two students why STAR is important to them. We hope these videos will provide a great insight into what actually happens in a STAR classroom and how the teachers and director feel about STAR. 

Quotes from STAR Students

• Understanding the meaning of difficult words is hard, but with our group and the way we learn, it is easy to remember and use each day.
• I am very happy, because where I work, the people over there say... "Now we got to talk, because your pronunciation is much better to understand." ...Sometimes it is hard to come to school after a day of work, tired. But I come happy because here at school, I am always learning!
• Before I started to do assessment testing, I never know how much vocabulary I knew... I think it is helpful to know a lot of vocabulary not just to pass the Hi-SET test. It's helpful to communicate with friends, especially at work.
• The best thing is how the teacher helps us, we are divided by group, and each group is helped in the most necessary way.
• Since I started the vocabulary group, I have been using words in my daily life that I have never used before. Personally, I think that the vocabulary group is the best.

See this and other upcoming events from the SABES ELA Curriculum and Instruction PD Center, and visit the overall SABES calendar.