Star Reading and Star Math score chart and benchmark lookup

What do the Star benchmark categories mean?

Each one is a percentile range, compared with students nationally in the same grade at the same point in the year. Renaissance’s cut score sheets define them in a footnote: “Below 10 – Urgent Intervention; Below 25 – Intervention; Below 40 – On Watch; At/Above 40 – Benchmark.”

Star Reading scores by grade: benchmark cut scores

Each cell lists three Unified scaled scores: the cut for the 10th, 25th and 40th percentile, in that order. A score at or above the third number is At/Above Benchmark. The lookup above also shows the 20th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile cuts.

Source: Renaissance, Unified Benchmarks and Cut Scores, Table 1: Reading Unified Benchmarks and Cut Scores (R63842.241003, © 2024), “based on 2024 norms.” The pre-K row comes from the same table. Beginning, middle and end are the first, fifth and ninth months of a 10-month school year.

Star Math scores by grade: benchmark cut scores

Source: Renaissance, Unified Benchmarks and Cut Scores, Table 1: Star Math Unified Benchmarks and Cut Scores (R63831.241003, © 2024), “based on 2024 norms.” The math table starts at kindergarten.

Two patterns stand out in these tables. The cuts climb fastest in the early grades: the grade 1 reading benchmark rises 87 points from the beginning of the year to the end (740 to 827), while the grade 8 benchmark rises 10 (1066 to 1076). By grade 12 the reading cuts are flat all year, with the 40th percentile at 1094 in all three columns.

What is a Star cut score?

The lowest scaled score that reaches a percentile. Renaissance’s sheet calls cut scores “the actual scores on norm-referenced educational tests that distinguish each of the percentile-based reference levels,” and the table gives “the lowest scaled score corresponding to the percentile” for each grade. So for a third grader at the beginning of the year, 921 is the lowest Star Reading score at the 40th percentile. A 921 is At/Above Benchmark, and a 920 is On Watch.

The lookup uses that rule. A score at or above a cut is at or above that percentile, so it can tell you the range a score falls in (for example, between the 50th and 74th percentile). It can’t give an exact percentile rank. That comes from the full norms on the student’s Star report.

What is a good Star Reading or Star Math score?

By Renaissance’s default benchmarks, a score at or above the 40th percentile cut for the student’s grade and time of year. The sheet explains why 40: “A common criterion for proficiency is attainment of a test score that is at or above a target percentile rank in a reference group of students; the 40th percentile is widely used as a critical point for proficiency.”

The 50th percentile cut is the national middle. A fifth grader at the beginning of the year needs 1002 in Star Reading for the benchmark and 1019 to reach the 50th percentile. In Star Math the same student needs 996 and 1013.

Why does the time of year change the benchmark?

Because students learn during the year, and the cuts follow. Renaissance writes that “cut scores for a given percentile rank can be expected to increase over the course of the school year.” A second grader with 850 in Star Reading is At/Above Benchmark at the start of the year (cut 845) but On Watch by the middle (25th percentile cut 836, 40th cut 878).

The published table only covers three points: the first, fifth and ninth months of a standard 10-month year. Renaissance adds: “For the most precise benchmarks based on the exact day(s) your students were tested, rely on the Star® reports.” If a student tested between those months, the report’s benchmark sits between the two columns here. Percentile rank is also “based on a student’s actual grade placement at the time of the Star assessment,” so use the grade the student was in when they tested.

What if my school uses different Star benchmarks?

Then its reports can label the same score differently. Renaissance says the 10th, 25th and 40th percentiles “are the default benchmarks for some applications of Star assessments,” and that “Star users are free to substitute different percentile benchmarks and to specify additional benchmarks.” If a report’s category doesn’t match this chart, ask the school which benchmark set it uses.

What this chart can’t tell you

• Percentile ranges, not exact ranks. The cut score table lists seven percentiles per grade. Exact ranks come from the full norms behind the student’s report.
• Three points in the year. Months 1, 5 and 9 only, as published.
• Star Reading and Star Math only. Other Star tests and any custom benchmarks your district set aren’t here.
• Estimated oral reading fluency is left out. Renaissance reports it for grades 1 to 4 only, and it’s an estimate.
• The official report wins. If a category here ever disagrees with a Star report, trust the report.
• Silent Student does not take Star tests. It is a separate desktop study app, not made by or affiliated with Renaissance.

Star test score FAQ

Sources

All fetched and checked November 2, 2026.

• Unified Benchmarks and Cut Scores: Reading (Renaissance, R63842.241003, PDF; Table 1, pages 2–4, and the explanation of benchmarks on page 1)
• Unified Benchmarks and Cut Scores: Star Math (Renaissance, R63831.241003, PDF; Table 1, pages 2–4)

How this page was made. We drafted it with AI from the two Renaissance documents listed above, extracted the cut score tables from the PDFs, and Silent Student checked every number and quote against them on November 2, 2026.

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