Effects of curriculum within curriculum-based measurement

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Reading Science
• Assessment

Background:

• Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a tool for assessing student progress.
• Understanding how curriculum variables affect CBM technical features is crucial for accurate assessment.
• Previous research has not fully explored the impact of material difficulty and reading series on CBM validity and growth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the influence of curriculum difficulty and basal reading series on the criterion validity and developmental growth rates of curriculum-based measurement in reading.
• To determine if variations in reading material affect the technical quality of CBM assessments.
• To provide insights for educators and researchers on selecting appropriate reading materials for CBM.

Main Methods:

• Ninety-one students participated in the study.
• Students completed a standardized reading comprehension test.
• Oral reading fluency was measured using 1-minute samples from 19 passages across two reading series and multiple grade levels.

Main Results:

• Correlations between oral reading fluency measures and reading comprehension scores were consistent across varying material difficulty levels.
• Criterion validity of CBM remained stable irrespective of the reading series used.
• Developmental growth rates demonstrated robustness, showing no significant decline or increase based on curriculum difficulty or series.

Conclusions:

• The technical features of curriculum-based measurement in reading, specifically criterion validity and developmental growth, are not significantly affected by curriculum difficulty or the basal series used.
• Educators can be confident in using CBM with various reading materials without compromising measurement accuracy.
• Findings suggest flexibility in CBM implementation regarding curriculum selection.