Math and Reading Assessment Tools

Assessment tools are techniques used to measure a student’s academic abilities, skills, and/or fluency in a given subject or to measure one’s progress toward academic proficiency in a specific subject area.

Assessments can be either formal or informal. Informal assessments are often inferences an educator draws as a function of unsystematic observations of a student’s performance in the subject matter under consideration. Formal assessments are objective measurements of a student’s abilities, skills, and fluency using screening, progress monitoring, diagnosis, or evaluation. Both types of assessments are important; however, only formal assessments are research, or evidence-based.

Educators use assessment tools to make informed decisions regarding strategies to enhance student learning.

Recognizing the value and necessity of objectivity in quantifying a student’s abilities, the Fuchs Research Group has developed curriculum-based assessments (CBM) in letter sound fluency, word identification fluency, reading comprehension and kindergarten math fluency to help determine if an intervention is needed and if so, to help define the specific nature of the intervention that is most likely to result in a positive outcome for the student based on assessed deficiencies.

RTI assessment screening can assist schools in saving money by matching the students to the levels of service that directly address their needs. Watch Dr. Lynn Fuchs discuss how this is possible.

Curriculum Based Measurements

All Fuchs Research Group assessments are curriculum based measurements. A specific timed method for collecting data for progress monitoring with specific administration procedures and scoring protocols that is based on 30 years of research.

  • Designed to be administered monthly, bi-weekly or even weekly
  • provides brief probes with immediate results for teachers to use to modify their curriculum
  • makes no assumptions about instructional hierarchy
  • reliable
  • measures academic standing and growth against whole class and self
  • can help in reporting RTI and to parents

Progress monitoring can be used for estimating rates of student improvement, identify students that are not making adequate progress and to compare the efficacy of different forms of instruction between classrooms.

Watch a video where Dr. Seethaler describes the many benefits of CBM assessments for teachers in the classroom!

CBM Research Articles

Using CBM for Progress Monitoring Manual

This informational manual provides an introduction to Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) and progress monitoring. CBM Reading Assessments track students’ overall progress in decoding / reading over time. It contains descriptions of related CBM research. All the steps for conducting CBM are laid out for the Reading Assessment Tools:

  • Letter Sound Fluency for Kindergarten
  • Word Identification Fluency for 1st Grade
  • Maze Fluency for 1st-6th Grade
  • Passage Reading Fluency 1st-7th Grade

Steps:

  1. How to Place Students in a Reading CBM Task for Progress Monitoring
  2. How to Identify the Level for Material for Monitoring Progress for RPWC and MF
  3. How to Administer and Score Reading CBM
  4. How to Graph Scores
  5. How to Set Ambitious Goals
  6. How to Apply Decision Rules to Graphed Scores to Know When to Revise Programs and Increase Goals
  7. How to Use the CBM Database Qualitatively to Describe Students’ Strengths and Weaknesses

Product Details:

  • Using CBM for Progress Monitoring Manual unit price: (1401-M) $35.00
  • Materials include case studies, sample graphs and CBM Materials Guide
  • Authors: Lynn S. Fuchs and Douglas Fuchs