Developments in Curriculum-Based Measurement

TLDR

Curriculum‑based measurement (CBM) is a special‑education‑originated method for assessing student growth in basic skills that has been shown to support a wide array of educational decisions, from screening and intervention evaluation to program eligibility, instructional refinement, and inclusion, and has recently been applied to predict high‑stakes assessment outcomes, secondary‑school content growth, and early‑childhood development. This article outlines best practices for CBM and presents empirical evidence supporting those practices. Illustrative examples demonstrate how CBM effectively improves educational decision making.

Abstract

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is an approach for assessing the growth of students in basic skills that originated uniquely in special education. A substantial research literature has developed to demonstrate that CBM can be used effectively to gather student performance data to support a wide range of educational decisions. Those decisions include screening to identify, evaluating prereferral interventions, determining eligibility for and placement in remedial and special education programs, formatively evaluating instruction, and evaluating reintegration and inclusion of students in mainstream programs. Beyond those fundamental uses of CBM, recent research has been conducted on using CBM to predict success in high-stakes assessment, to measure growth in content areas in secondary school programs, and to assess growth in early childhood programs. In this article, best practices in CBM are described and empirical support for those practices is identified. Illustrations of the successful uses of CBM to improve educational decision making are provided.