As a Teach for America educator, the reason I entered the classroom is to facilitate a classroom environment in which all students can achieve on or above grade level mastery. My first year, through careful consideration and analysis of easyCBM and i-Ready data, in addition to the Common Core Curriculum standards, I learned the important components for reading achievement in early childhood learning.
Easy CBM Assessment 2015 - 2016
Introduction
Quantitative data is important in the classroom because it provides a science to daily instruction. Quantitative assessments measure student achievement and determine students' performance as it is correlates with common core state standards and college and career readiness. Quantitative assessments allow me to organize and visualize student achievement for forward progress and student growth. By using quantitative assessments, I am able to identify whole group patterns and trends to supplement daily instruction and on an individual basis, I am able to identify gaps in knowledge and skill mastery. The data gathered from quantitative instruction enables me to differentiate instruction, as needed for each student's achievement.
The data displayed in this section is the easyCBM reading assessment data from my first year in the classroom, as a first grade English Language Arts & Social Studies teacher. The core artifacts, I will use for this section to display quantitative growth will be beginning of the year (BOY), middle of the year (MOY), and end of the year (EOY) first grade English Language Arts easyCBM growth. Specifically, the skills measured: include letter sounds, word reading fluency, phoneme segmenting and passage reading fluency. Phoneme segmenting is only measured during the beginning of the year assessment. Passage reading fluency is only measured in the middle of the year and end of the year assessment for growth.
The easyCBM assessment is a standardized assessment devised for reading and math grade Kindergarten through twelfth grade by the University of Oregon. The "CBM" in easyCBM stands for curriculum based measurement solutions. Therefore, the easyCBM assessment provides easy or accessible curriculum based measurement solutions for students, teachers and families. EasyCBM is "designed by researchers at the University of Oregon as an integral part of the RTI (Response to Intervention) model" (easyCBM, 2017). The easyCBM collaborative emphasizes intentional and data informed instructional decision making. The assessment "highlights key patterns relevant for lesson planning, student study team meetings, and parent conferences" (easyCBM, 2017). The easyCBM assessment facilitates an accessible testing curriculum, in addition to progress monitoring materials for designated students as determined by student's benchmark performance.
The easyCBM assessment is used to track student's growth in foundational reading skills throughout the school year. Students participate in a beginning of the year (BOY), middle of the year (MOY) and end of the year (EOY) assessment. The tracking of students' growth is used for lesson planning, student work groups, student study team meetings, parent conferences and individualized instruction.
As an elementary educator, I appreciate this assessment because it is an assessment that captures pertinent reading skills to correlating with curricular standards to measure each student's reading ability respectively. The assessment is comprehensive, in addition to providing clear and concise steps to address apparent gaps that appear in the data. Additionally, easyCBM provides progress monitoring assessment timetables and resources for students that demonstrate some or high risk during the beginning of the year and middle of the year testing window.
Moreover, the easyCBM assessment provides me with an one-on-one individual setting to assess each student's reading skills in person and then apply to the easyCBM metric to determine each student's overall reading readiness. The assessment allows me to dive into each skill before easyCBM determines each student's overall reading readiness score. Additionally, by sitting down and administering each foundational reading skill as a separate assessment, I am able to easily pin point and target a student's strengths and weaknesses on each of the year's benchmark assessments BOY, MOY and EOY. As a result of the comprehensive format of the easyCBM assessment, the quantitative section is divided into three sections individual reading skill assessments, easyCBM individual reading skills assessments growth, and easyCBM overall reading readiness.
The easyCBM assessments allow me to communicate with families the level of rigor necessary for college and career readiness in the 21st century. Specifically, by using the easyCBM assessment, I can communicate each student's strengths and areas of growth according to the assessment over time. The assessment generates helpful teacher reports, which allows families to understand results aligned to Common Core Standards, which are measurable and rigorous demonstrating student growth and proficiency. The easyCBM assessment provides a standard metric of measurement and organization of student performance in the classroom, which informs my effective teaching practices and ultimately student growth. The easyCBM assessment is an integral component of my teaching, ensuring student growth and readiness as a second grade reader and writer.
References:
Easy CBM (2017) University of Oregon. Retrieved November 5, 2017, from https://easycbm.com/