Talking to parents about their students' reading progress can be difficult. And once students move into middle school and high school, juggling multiple teachers in a single day, communication with families can easily fall by the wayside. But it's crucially important.

Leigh Carey, a STARI teacher in Queens, NY, has seen this shift firsthand:

"Children through elementary, they understand their reading level. And then all of a sudden in middle school, all the conversations stop….it becomes this taboo subject and no one wants to talk about it. Even the parents have no idea. And when we have that hard conversation and we say, unfortunately, your student tested at this level, it's like a light bulb goes off. And parents say, 'I wish I knew, I wish someone would have told me.'"

Sharing students' reading skill levels and their progress with families is essential. If you're looking for ways to share students' STARI successes with families, we have you covered!

First, we have resources to tell families about STARI: what it is and what students will learn.

As you begin, you may want to share the STARI Overview with families. This 1-pager explains what students do during STARI lessons, including the core reading skills STARI strengthens: phonics and decoding, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary.

Additionally, each STARI unit now includes a Letter to Families, offering a brief summary of the books students will read during that unit and the reading skills they'll develop along the way.

→ Find both these documents in the SERP Download Center under Unit Introduction for Families.

Find all of these resources and more in the SERP Download Center at access.serpinstitute.org.