SPED 311 Curriculum Based Assessment I

Name: Melissa Faz

Date: February 16, 2016

School/Setting: Oakwood Intermediate/ 5th grade Resource Math

How does this project contribute to your skills as an educator?
My project contributes to my skills as an educator because it has allowed me to broaden
my knowledge on how to create assessments for students. This is very important to know
especially as a future Special Education teacher because many of our future students will
have to be tested weekly in the students basic academic areas such as math, reading,
writing, and spelling. Curriculum Based Assessments can also be helpful data to show to
the parents because it provides current, week-by-week information on the progress their
children are making. Overall, I really enjoyed creating this project because it has allowed
me to understand the process of what it takes to assess a student.

On my honor, as an Aggie, I have neither given nor received

unauthorized aid on this academic work.

Signature____________________________________________

Curriculum Based Measurement Tool

Description of student:

The student that I have selected is a 11-year-old boy. The students IDEIA
eligibility is under intellectual disability. The boy attends Oakwood Intermediate in
College Station, TX and is a 5th grader. Due to his intellectual disability, the student is in a
math resource classroom. One of the students social skills strengths is that the student is
able to communicate with his peers and his teacher whenever he is asked to do so. Along
with this strength, the student is very attentive in class and therefore his learning skills are
strongly developing each day. Majority of the time the student is engaged in the lesson
and therefore, his learning skills and grades have been improving ever since the
beginning of the school year. When it comes to the students academic area in math, the
student is quickly advancing. Over the course of the year, his teacher along with the math
specialist, have been collecting data and giving him extra work to take home in order to
monitor his progress. On the other hand, the student faces some challenges in the
classroom. One of the students major challenges are his social skills. For example, the
student will not participate in classroom discussions nor will he begin any conversations
with others unless instructed to do so by the teacher. Because of this, the student regularly
sees a speech pathologist in order to improve his communication skills with others. Along
with this challenge, another struggle the student is currently facing is trying to orally say
3-digit numbers. For example, when the student is given a number such as 784 the
student will say seventy-eight four rather than seven hundred eighty-four. In his

academic area, the student tends to struggle most when he has to verbally say a
mathematical concept.

Objective:

IEP Goal: By the end of the 2015-2016 school year, when 3-digit worksheets, the
student will identify and order numbers to the hundreds place with at least 50%
accuracy in 3 out of 5 opportunities. (From mentor teacher)

Given 10 flashcards with an assortment of 3-digit numbers, the student will be

able to verbally read the 3-digit numbers with 50% accuracy in 2/4 trials.

Measurement tool:

Directions: Given 10 flashcards with an assortment of 3-digit numbers, the student will
be able to verbally read the 3-digit numbers with 50% accuracy in 2/4 trials.

Teacher: Today I am going to test you on 3-digit numbers. First I will be showing you a
flashcard, on this flashcard there will be a 3-digit number and within 3 seconds, I want
you to read that number to me.
Here is an example (pick up a card, read the correct 3-digit number aloud). Now its your
turn to read the following flashcards for me!

If the student says the correct number aloud within 3 seconds, give him a P for
proficient. If he correctly reads the number aloud with a verbal cue from you then give
him an E for emerging. If the student incorrectly reads the 3-digit number aloud or if he
needed multiple-prompts to read the number, then put a (NS) for needed support. Add the
totals vertically and horizontally by only counting the Ps proficient amounts.

Key:
Proficient (P)

Emerging (E)

Needs Support

-correctly read 3-

-correctly read 3-digit

(NS)
-incorrectly read

digit number aloud

number aloud with verbal

3-digit number

within 3 seconds or

cue from the teacher

aloud

less

-needed
multiple-prompts
to read 3-digit
number
Trial

3-digit

Total

number
108
337
869
472
567
905
234
983
645
704

NS
E
P
P
E
NS
P
E
P
E

NS
P
E
P
P
E
P
P
P
NS

E
E
E
P
P
P
P
P
P
E

P
P
P
P
P
E
P
P
P
P

1/4
2/4
2/4
4/4
3/4
1/4
4/4
3/4
4/4
1/4

Total

4/10

6/10

6/10

9/10

Administration Discussion:
The CBM was administered over the course of two days within the last ten
minutes of class time. I began by showing the student 1 flashcard with a 3-digit number
on it. The student would then verbally respond to the number on the flashcard. If the
student answered correctly within 3 seconds or less, the student would get a P for
proficient. If the student answered correctly with a verbal cue from me, then the student
would receive an E for emerging. Lastly, if the student incorrectly read the 3-digit
number or needed multiple-prompts to read the number, then the student would get NS
for needed support. These steps were then repeated with 9 other flashcards that had
different 3-digit numbers on them. During this assessment there were a total of 4 trials.
Two trials were done on February 17, 2016 and the last two trials were given on February
22, 2016.
Overall, the CBM was shown to be effective. During trials 1 and 2, the student
showed that he was having difficulties with numbers 108, 905, and 704. Therefore, it
was concluded that the CBM assessment did go as expected. The reason for this, is
because before assessing the CBM to the student, according to my mentor teacher,
she stated that the student would have difficulties with numbers that have 0s in the
middle. For example, in multiple occasions the student will tend to say one zero eight
rather than one hundred eight for the number 108 and other numbers with zeros in the
middle of them. Later in the assessment, it was noted that after the first two trials, the
student seemed to be catching on and self corrected himself during the third and fourth
trials. For example, instead of saying one zero eight as he did during the first two trials,

the student was able to correct himself and would say one hundred eight. This selfcorrection also occurred with the numbers 905 and 704 during the 3rd and 4th trials.
When compared with my thoughts before administering the assessment, the
student did as expected on the measuring tool. The reason for this is because according to
my mentor teacher, she mentioned that the student would have difficulties with numbers
that have 0s in them. Therefore, my thoughts before the actual measure, were that the
student would have most difficulties with numbers such as 108, 905, and 704 and
according to my data the student did have most difficulties when trying to verbally say
those numbers.
One of the strengths of this tool is that it is very easy to follow and it is also very
flexible. This is important because the teacher can always adjust the numbers to what she
wants to assess him with. A weakness about this tool is that the assessment did not have
instructions about having to redirect the student if needed. During the first trials of the
assessment, the student seemed distracted by his peers around the classroom since he was
the only one doing this assessment. Therefore, for future assessments, as a teacher I can
consider doing this assessment in a separate classroom or a quiet area where there will be
no distractions for the student.

Discussion with Mentor:

After administering the CBM for the first time, I discussed my results with my
mentor teacher. The results seemed very similar to what we had discussed because she
believed that the student would struggle most with numbers that have 0s in them. The
reason for this is because during the trials, the student would say numbers such as 704 as

seven zero four rather than seven hundred four. In my opinion, I think that the
measure tool could be used again. The reason for this is because this tool consists of
different 3-digit numbers. Since they are many 3-digit combinations, in the future, I
would switch the 3-digit numbers around and focus on other 3-digit numbers I want to
assess my student with.

Future Teaching:
As a result of my measurement, one change in teaching that needs to be considered
for this student, is that the student needs to review 3-digit numbers in a one-on-one
setting. The reason for this is because while assessing him I noticed that the student
would become easily distracted by other peers around him and therefore on several
occasions he decided to daze off. Overall, the main focus for this student for the next few
weeks will be 3-digit numbers with 0s in them. This way the student will be able to
learn how to properly say 3-digit numbers that have 0s in them without any mistakes.
An additional technique that I would use for future teaching would be to have
manipulatives such as a place value chart to help the student better understand how to
verbally say 3-digit numbers without any prompts or self-corrections.