What’s the difference between the series?

The skills addressed are the same in each series. The levels of text difficulty are approximately the same in each series. The content of the texts is designed to be age-appropriate for the recommended grade level. For example, a text in the first unit of Series 1 is Middle School Confidential, which would not appeal to high school students. In contrast, the core text in Unit 3.1 is Game, by Walter Dean Myers, which is about a high school senior who hopes to get a basketball scholarship to college.

Why does STARI have multiple series?

The curriculum was designed in this way so that students can receive more than one full year of STARI, if necessary. We hope that after a year or two of STARI, students will be on or close to grade level and no longer in need of reading intervention. However, if students do need two or three years of STARI, we have sufficient content to accommodate those needs.

What if a particular text or unit is not a good fit for my students or my community?

If you feel that a particular text or unit is not the right fit for your students, you can swap out the unit for a unit in a different series, but at the same point in the sequence. For example, if you don’t want to use Unit 2.1, you could use Unit 1.1 or 3.1 instead. If you don’t want to use Unit 1.2, you could use Unit 2.2 or 3.2 instead. The same sequence of skills are taught in each series, but the topics are slightly more sophisticated in the higher series.

Can we substitute a different book for one of the unit texts?

Lessons are carefully crafted around the engaging and challenging parts of each text. If you chose not to use a particular unit text, the lesson plans and workbook pages about that text would be unusable, so we don’t recommend this.

Do students have to do Series 1 before Series 2?

The three series do not build on one another. If you have a group of seventh graders, and some of them took STARI in sixth grade while others didn’t, all of them should use Series 2.

Can we have mixed grade level groups?

Yes. All series teach the same skills, so you can combine grade levels, if needed. Think carefully about which series is the best fit for the group’s age and developmental level, as well as considering which series these students might use in future years of STARI.

Do we have to use the series like this? Instead, can we....?

Some schools choose to align series in different ways. For example, in some schools, all teachers teach Series 1 in the school’s first year of STARI implementation. This can help bolster collaboration as teachers learn a new program. As another example, some high schools choose to use STARI beyond ninth grade (although we only have data to demonstrate the effectiveness of STARI in grades 6-9). Some high schools choose to use Series 2 in ninth grade and Series 3 in tenth grade.

Can we change the order of the units within a series?

Each unit does build on the previous units within that series. So we recommend that you do not skip units, or start the school year with Unit 2 or Unit 3, since students will be missing essential skills from earlier units.