CARS & STARS Online is a digital reading comprehension program based around the repeated application of twelve core reading strategies to make students better readers who can analyse and interpret any text at a high level of understanding. The strategies that underpin the program represent distilled elements of word and reading comprehension that carry across all year levels. They are introduced in basic forms in Foundation Year and expanded upon throughout each level of the program.
The multi-level program is designed to be entirely paper-free, with all student answers entered directly into the software, and results being instantly recorded and corrected automatically, requiring no teacher marking. Students work at the level of their understanding, rather than year level. In large part this is possible because CARS & STARS Online is not tied directly to any single curriculum – rather it’s designed to be able to complement any existing literacy program or English subject plan. It focuses directly on reading skills and growing comprehension ability, regardless of student’s actual year level. Students are engaged at their point of need and instruction is provided directly at their current skill level, with multiple students undertaking CARS & STARS Online in the same classroom often being at different levels in the program at the same time – something for which the program is designed.
As a digital reading comprehension program whose entire goal is the development of more capable readers who can engage with any text at an advanced level of understanding, the element of most individual curricula that most directly aligns with CARS & STARS Online is that concerned with understanding texts, which is central to every level of the program (and every stage of being a literate person).
While the CARS section of CARS & STARS Online is based around multiple-choice questions, both STARS and the recently added FOCUS Reading module include written responses that tie into writing elements as well, while the way in which it can be taught also ties in with elements of speaking and listening, particularly when reading the exercises to a class as a group, getting them to respond or allocating students to read them out to the class or groups themselves.
You can find more information about how CARS & STARS Online aligns with elements of the over-arching Australian National Curriculum specifically on our website. It’s important to note that with both specific content descriptions in a curriculum and precise details of instructional levels, a student who is at year level with CARS & STARS Online might actually be slightly ahead of stated goals (at least insofar as they are concerned with reading comprehension and general literacy) because they have been introduced to elements of textual analysis that are only explicitly stated in curriculum documents such as these at a later level.
If you are interested in learning more about the CARS & STARS Online subscriptions and how they can help children to achieve better results, then sign up for a free trial to be an integral part of your child’s reading success.
