Observational methods are increasingly being used in classrooms to evaluate the quality of teaching. Operational procedures for observing teachers are somewhat arbitrary in existing measures and vary across different instruments. To study the effect of different observation procedures on score reliability and validity, we conducted an experimental…

Curriculum-based measurement of mathematics (CBM-M) comprises a set of procedures and instrumentation to assess the level and trend of student achievement in early mathematics. The purpose of this article is to review the recent research and psychometric evidence for CBM-M. Although recent developments in CBM-M include procedures to assess early…

This report summarizes research findings and implementation practices for teacher and principal value-added models (VAMs), as a first step in the Team Pennsylvania Foundation's (Team PA) pilot project to inform the development of a full, statewide model evaluation system. We have selected 21 studies that represent key issues and findings in the…

This study examined the relation between benchmark data and rate of growth across the year for reading, math computation, and math concepts and applications curriculum-based measures, and a statewide and large-scale achievement test. Results showed that reading and math benchmarks were significantly and moderately correlated with performance on…

This study evaluated the validity of curriculum-based word problem-solving measures as indicators of proficiency in mathematics with a sample of 77 children in third grade. In the winter and spring of third grade, children completed a battery of general achievement tests in mathematics in addition to curriculum-based problem-solving and…