HomeMy WebLinkAboutAdministering the EasyCBM Mathematics ProbesAdministering the EasyCBM Mathematics Probes
Background Information
The math tests on easyCBM® were developed to assess students’ mastery of the knowledge and skills outlined in
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Focal Point Standards. They were designed to focus more on
students’ conceptual understanding than basic computational skills.
These math items were under development for two years. They were written by teachers with both general
education and special education teachers and have been piloted across the country with students from a variety
of backgrounds. They have undergone review by researchers at the University of Oregon and have been checked
carefully for typographical errors.
Like all measures on easyCBM®, alternate forms of each math test were designed to be of equivalent difficulty.
Each of the math tests is comprised of 16 items.
Directions for Administering Probes
These probes can be administered whole group. Distribute papers and instruct students to work the problems
and choose the best answer. Students are allowed and encouraged to have scrap paper available, but they may
not use calculators.
The test is not timed.
Students may have the questions read to them aloud if the teacher feels a reading deficit would hinder the
student’s ability to show mathematical understanding.
Items on the math progress monitoring tests increase in difficulty from Item 1 through Item 16, with one
exception. On every test, Item #5 is actually the most difficult item (based on our pilot studies of the items).
Item #16 is actually the fifth-easiest item. We made the Item 5/Item 16 substitution on each form to provide
teachers with additional information. If students get Item 6, 7, and 8 correct but misses Item 16, it is likely that
they simply stopped trying by the end of the test, because the last item should be easier than the items that
come before it.
How Often Should We Assess?
How often teachers assess students depends on two key questions: How quickly is it reasonable for teachers to
expect to see growth in a particular skill area and how much actual intervention has the student received?
Measures such as Letter Names, Phoneme Segmenting, and Letter Sounds can be given more frequently –
perhaps as often as every week or two – because students are able to make rapid progress in these skill areas
when they are receiving in-depth interventions to help accelerate their learning.
Other measures, such as Word and Passage Reading Fluency, are assessing skill areas that take longer for
students to improve.
We recommend testing no more often than every other week with these measure types.
For Comprehension and the Math measures, we recommend testing no more frequently than every 3 to 4
weeks. In all cases, of course, it is important that the student is actually receiving focused instruction to
address their skill deficits if teachers hope to see an improvement in their performance over time.
Compiled from: Teachers’ Manual for Regular easyCBM: Getting the Most Out of the System; Retrieved from https://help.easycbm.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/EasyCBM_Lite_Deluxe_Teachers_Manual.pdf. 2015