Star Literacy Software Essay

Submitted By charlyesmom
Words: 1124
Pages: 5

Star Literacy Software for Children

After doing much research on software, I did not realize how many different things there were out there in the World Wide Web. I have found that there are loads of different kinds of software such as; applications software, system software, applications development tools, and a mixture of them all called database management systems. The term software was not even used until around 1958. I also found that the first computer programmers were women, such as Ada Lovelace. In the late 1960s it was agreed that software needed to be regarded as a science and not an art. They held a conference in Germany in 1968 which brought together many of the world’s leading software designers. This conference was said to have been sponsored by NATO who wanted some order brought into software development. Once this took place software started moving out of the cottage industry into the mass production model. When I was trying to find a certain software program to research and write about I was amazed at all the different programs that are out there. There are financial software programs, educational software programs, manufacturing software programs, etc. I never realized how extensive the software program line could be until I started reading all about it. On an educational standpoint, there are many software programs out there that are very beneficial and some that are not so much but could use some improving. Without computer software the technology in schools could not keep up with the movement of children in this day and time. It is very important to have those who understand the software that make a certain program work so if there are any clichés or problems they can quickly look into it and fix the program so it can be used immediately and not lose any time with its customers. The STAR Literacy program is a huge program that we use in the public school that I work for. The purpose for the STAR Literacy software is to provide information to teachers about their students’ growth and achievements in grades K-12. Students at our school which are in K and 1st grade take this test about 4 different times a year to judge progress. With this software program our administrator can print out assessment reports for each student to show parents, a classroom report to help teachers see progress, or grade level reports for administrators to see the progress. The purpose of these print outs in the software was so that teachers could see where they needed to help which children on different skills instead of reteaching the same thing repeatedly to all students. The have now recently updated their software to incorporate Math into their testing options. This software is identical to the literacy one in the fact that test scores are printed the same for the same purposes. The research that the STAR software has provided states that these test are very reliable in short spans of time. It states that if you test the students frequently then the test results will show reliable results for each student. They do however state that the test results will vary with students depending on different variables. This software has been programmed to work off the web so anyone anywhere can use the program. They tried to create it to be as user friendly as possible. I do like how on their website it is very self-explanatory on what you need to do to get started. It also shows on the website what the state standards are for your state so you can see where the child is suppose to be at in his grade. These STAR assessments are used for a variety of things, such as screening students for placements, eliminate testing anxiety for students, monitor students’ progress throughout the year, and to be able to estimate the student’s mastery of state or common core standards. There are plenty of websites out there that show how beneficial using the STAR software might be towards the students. My personal opinions about STAR