Technical features of curriculum-based measurement in writing: a literature review.

This article reviews research examining technical features of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in written expression. Twenty-eight technical reports and published articles are included in this review. Studies examining the development and technical adequacy of measures of written expression are summarized, beginning with research conducted at the Institute for Research on Learning Disabilities at the University of Minnesota and followed by extensions of this work. Differences in technical features of writing tasks, sample durations, and scoring procedures employed within and across elementary and secondary levels are highlighted. Gaps in research addressing the technical adequacy of CBM in written expression are identified, and implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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Progress monitoring has of late been on the agenda of educational policy decision makers and administrators. With standards-based reform and school accountability at the forefront of educational policy (e.g., No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), it has become clear that if all students are to meet rigorous academic standards, assessment tools are needed to track student progress toward those standards and to quickly and accurately identify students at risk for failing to reach them. Moreover, some have suggested the use of progress monitoring as part of a nondiscriminatory, response-to-intervention approach for special education referral and identification (see Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006; Speece, Case, & Molloy, 2003). For students receiving special education services, progress monitoring is viewed as a way to uphold major tenets of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA, 2004) by aligning goals and objectives on Individualized Education Programs with performance and progress in the general curriculum (Nolet & McLaughlin, 2000).

Recently, educators have focused increasing attention on monitoring students' performance and progress in writing. This increased attention is, in part, in response to reports of high proportions of students who do not meet proficiency levels in writing. For example, results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress 2002 writing assessments indicated that 72% of 4th graders, 69% of 8th graders, and 77% of 12th graders were performing below a proficient level (National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). The emphasis on writing performance is also reflected in states' attempts both to introduce or revise standards that represent the multifaceted, complex nature of the writing process and to implement assessment procedures that sufficiently measure critical elements of this construct (Nolet & McLaughlin, 1997).

Technically sound measures of writing progress are needed to ensure that students are progressing toward writing standards, to identify those who struggle, and to inform instruction aimed at improving students' writing proficiency. One of the most extensively researched progress monitoring approaches is curriculum-based measurement (CBM; Deno, 1985). CBM is a procedure in which multiple probes of equivalent difficulty are administered repeatedly, yielding time-series data that reflect student progress. CBM is simple and efficient: Brief samples of behavior, such as the number of words read correctly in 1 min, correlate strongly with critical academic outcomes, such as reading comprehension. Teachers can use such data to quickly and accurately establish baseline performance, set individual goals, graph student progress, and modify instruction when progress is insufficient (Deno, 1985). A 30-year program of research has demonstrated CBM's capacity to provide reliable and valid indicators of student performance and progress in basic skill areas such as reading and mathematics (see Foegen, Jiban, & Deno, 2006; Marston, 1989; Wayman, Wallace, Wiley, Ticha, & Espin, 2006).

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to review the literature on the technical adequacy of CBM in written expression. In doing so, we pay particular attention to reliability and validity, which are technical qualities required of any measurement tool to be used for educational decision making.