Curriculum-based assessment of reading skills: Considerations and caveats for school psychologists

Abstract

General dissatisfaction with commercial norm‐referenced tests and global ability measures and the need for more specific achievement measures due to changes in special education have led to an increased interest in the curriculum‐based assessment of reading. We argue that a curriculum‐based assessment (CBA) of reading provides relevant information for instructional interventions only if the content of the curriculum and instruction are grounded in the cognitive skills underlying the domain of reading. If CBA is based on valid cognitive constructs, it may assist greatly in the identification of younger readers at risk for reading problems, older students with reading problems, and provide the most sensitive measure of continuous progress. We discuss the implications of our review for the training of school psychologists and for consultation. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Story retell: A fluency-based indicator of reading comprehension.

“…Curriculum-based measurement offers advantages to practicing school psychologists, as well. Concerns about the utility of commercially available normreferenced tests are well documented in the school psychology literature (see Deno, 1985;Howell, 1986;Peverly & Kitzen, 1998;Rosenfeld, 1987;Rosenfeld & Shinn, 1989;Shapiro, 1990;Shapiro & Elliott, 1999). Of particular interest is their limited value for making instructional recommendations.…”

Analysis and comprehension of multimodal texts

“…It has been suggested that texts with more complex syntactical structures may be more difficult for children to read . 'Where the child's language skill is found to be limited' (Clay, 1971, p. 68) or children who have not developed a sound understanding of grammatical rules (Peverly & Kitzen, 1998) and 'the ability to maintain strong grammatical relationships when reading may contribute more to reading than previously realised' (Adams, 1990, cited in Beatty & Care, 2009.…”

From Old Schools to Tomorrow's Schools

“…CBA has the dual purpose of identifying struggling readers and evaluating the effectiveness of instruction (i.e., change in the readers' skills over time). Peverly and Kitzen (1998) suggested that CBA alone is insufficient to ensure the effectiveness of instruction and that attention must also be given to the cognitive processes that underlie reading skills. Thus, Tier 1 assessment provides early screening of all students, from kindergarten through third grade, for indicators of cognitive processing weaknesses (e.g., phonological processing, rapid automatic naming, graphomotor fluency, vocabulary).…”

“…Traditional approaches to assessment (i.e., observation) would include, for example, charting student behaviors indicative of engaged time and a focus on teachers' interactions with students regarding their behaviors. However, ensuring positive student outcomes requires going beyond these data (Peverly & Kitzen, 1998), particularly with regard to African American students. Here, we need to recognize the unique characteristics needed for curriculum and instruction that affirms children's cultures.…”