How do we, as educators, gauge the effectiveness of our teaching and ensure that students are making adequate progress? Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM) offer a valuable tool for monitoring student learning and informing instructional decisions. AERO’s review, “Supporting Students Significantly Behind in Literacy and Numeracy,” places a strong emphasis on the use of CBM, while Maths Australia’s I-CRAVE pedagogy, while not using the specific term CBM, also highlights the importance of ongoing assessment.
- Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM)
AERO’s review provides a detailed explanation of what CBMs are and how they are used.
CBMs are characterised as brief, frequent assessments designed to measure students’ progress in key academic areas. These assessments are typically quick to administer, often taking only 1 to 5 minutes, allowing for frequent monitoring without consuming excessive instructional time. CBMs can be administered as frequently as weekly or bi-weekly, providing teachers with a steady stream of data to track student learning. The review offers a practical recommendation regarding the development and use of CBMs. It suggests that schools are generally better served by utilising existing, validated CBMs rather than attempting to create their own. This recommendation is based on the fact that teacher-generated CBMs often lack the rigorous evidence of technical adequacy, which is essential for ensuring that the assessments are reliable and valid.
- Ongoing Assessment and I-CRAVE
While Maths Australia’s I-CRAVE pedagogy may not explicitly use the term “Curriculum-Based Measures,” it strongly emphasises the importance of ongoing assessment and a deep understanding of student mastery. I-CRAVE highlights the critical role of the “intuitive component” at the beginning of the instructional process. This involves the teacher’s ability to accurately identify what a student has already mastered, which forms the foundation for subsequent instruction. I-CRAVE also stresses the importance of a sequential developmental approach to instruction. This means that assessment is not just a one-time event but an ongoing process that informs the progression of learning. Both AERO’s review and Maths Australia’s I-CRAVE pedagogy, therefore, recognise the fundamental role of assessment in effective teaching. Whether through the use of standardised CBMs or the emphasis on teacher intuition and developmental sequencing, the key principle remains the same: continuously monitoring student learning is essential for providing targeted instruction and maximising student growth.