STARI FAQs
Supporting Diverse Learners
STARI is designed to support students with a wide range of reading challenges, including students with diagnosed reading disabilities as well as those who struggle with reading for other reasons. STARI texts are written at lexile levels that are accessible to students who read two or more years below grade level. To address the varied needs of STARI students, the curriculum includes mini-lessons in decoding and comprehension, as well as offering fluency passages at four levels of difficulty so that each student can read a text that is at the right challenge level. Studies of STARI’s effectiveness have always included students with IEPs, and these students have always made just as much progress as their peers who do not receive special education services.
Yes. STARI focuses on improving reading comprehension, a key academic skill for English learners’ success in high school and beyond. While STARI is not designed for newcomers, there is efficacy data (ESSA Tier 1) to support STARI’s use with intermediate and advanced English learners, including long-term English learners and American-born English learners. More information can be found at STARI for English Learners .
STARI includes best practices that work well for students with behavioral challenges and include strategies like structured routines, clear expectations, and personalized engagement strategies. STARI teachers often report that students behave better in STARI classes because they are given the opportunity to feel competent and engaged.
Make partnership decisions thoughtfully. Will you pair lower reading students together for fluency work so that they have twice as many chances to access the fluency passage? Or will it be better to have lower reading students paired with a reader performing at a slightly higher level? Think about the supportive aspects of each of these pairings when making partner decisions. Be prepared to offer more scaffolding for students at lower levels of proficiency. They may need a complex question broken down into multiple questions. But don’t deprive these students of the opportunity to answer complex, inferential questions! Make extensive use of Talk Moves , giving students a chance to Stop and Jot their ideas down before sharing with their partner or the whole group, and Turn and Talk with their partner before sharing with the whole group. If particular students have trouble or are reluctant to speak in the whole group, use Talk Moves for Goal 2: asking students to rephrase or repeat what another student says. In this way, students can contribute to discussion without having to come up with a new thought or comment. Rephrase and repeat also gives students an opportunity to build on the thinking of peers who may be reading and comprehending at a higher level.