Mathematics curriculum based measurement to predict state test performance: A comparison of measures and methods

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of the study is to use an empirical approach to identify a simple, economical, efficient, and technically adequate performance measure that teachers can use to assess student growth in mathematics. The current study has been designed to expand the body of research for math CBM to further examine technical aspects of basic facts and cloze math CBM measures, primarily investigating the most robust administration times (1, 2, or 3 minutes) and scoring methods (digits correct, digits correct minus incorrect, problems correct, or problems correct minus incorrect). The current study also seeks to expand on the concept of a cloze math measure to further determine if it demonstrates technical adequacy, instructional effectiveness, and logistical feasibility. It is hypothesized that cloze math measures will illicit more complex mathematical thinking than basic facts and add significantly to the prediction of performance on a state math test. The cloze math measure is anticipated to have advantages over a basic fact measure in that it maintains the necessary construct of math automaticity and fluency, while simultaneously assessing higher-order mathematical skill constructs. This study can help empirically estimate the validity of the basic fact and cloze math measure and varying methods through criterion referenced validity as determined by examining performance on the CBM in relation to a math state achievement test.;Findings and Conclusions: The study demonstrated that 3-minute Basic Fact measures scored as digits correct had the highest reliability across two administrations. The results support selecting 3-minutes for basic fact measures and either 1- or 3- minute administration times for cloze math measures. While alternate-form reliability indicated some differences by scoring method, the reliability was quite high among all four conditions. The criterion validity of the scores for digits correct minus incorrect and problems correct minus incorrect showed a higher correlation to performance on the state test. Correlations between all measures were very strong confirming convergent validity between basic facts and cloze math measures. Both CBM measures demonstrated weak to moderate correlations with the state test, regardless of administration time or scoring method and small percentages of variance were accounted for. Overall, results indicated that cloze math measures were more highly correlated with the state test and appear to better predict state test performance than the basic fact measures for third grade students. Study limitations, practice implications, and further directions are discussed.