Understanding Curriculum-Based Assessment (CBA)

1. Topic 6:Curriculum-Based Assessmentand Natural Assessment Technique

2. What is is curriculum based Assessment? • Curriculum-based Assessment (CBA) is…. • A specific type of curriculum-based assessment that uses repeated measurements of specific skills. It is an assessment based on the curriculum that a child is mastering. • It may be the curriculum materials for the grade level the child is in, or it may be adapted to the student's ability goals. • The assesment is based on a long-term goal and seek to determine if a student is progressing along as intended – to meet the annual goal. • Curriculum-based assessment are formative evaluations • Meaning - the progress is monitored during the instructional period rather than just at the end of the instructional period like summative evaluations.

3. What Is Is Curriculum Based Assessment? • In CBA, it often use curriculum materials to measure student progress & achievement. Includes many testing methods, e.g. • teacher made tests or tests made by the producer of the materials (end of chapter tests, and other assessments using the actual content of the instructional materials). • Most curriculum based assessment comes directly from the text book, in the form of tests provided by text books, often in the form of chapter tests. • Some publishers offer adapted assessments for special education students, or the special educator can adapt the assessment him or herself. • CBA is a scientifically validated form of student progress monitoring that incorporates standard methods for test development and administration and for data utilization. • CBAs is found to be effective in assessing oral reading fluency, spelling skills, written expression, and mathematics skills

4. Key Features of CBA • Each CBA test samples the year-long curriculum. • CBA tests are brief and easy to administer. • Each CBA test is different, but each form assesses the same types of skills at about the same level of difficulty. • Teachers use CBA to monitor student progress throughout the school year by administering “probes” at regular and frequent intervals. • Teachers can use CBAdata to quantify long- and short-term goals. • CBA scores are graphed, and teachers may apply standard decision rules to determine whether student progress is sufficient for meeting long-term goals. • CBA can be used to compare the effectiveness of different types of instructional interventions. • CBA has documented reliability, validity, and instructional utility.

5. CBA... • Assessment should be conducted for purpose of adapting future teaching, and NOT evaluating the child against a static standard. • Assessment is focus on whether the classroom is pleasant place to be, containing interesting activities that balance different needs and skills and encourage the development of the programs’ learning goals. • It is different from traditional measures because in CBA we do not try to determine why child is having trouble, but we want to know how different is he/she from the norm, and is he/she getting better? • Does not give national normative data, does not provide broad band information and is not diagnostic in nature

6. Description Of CBA • Normed assessment from which you can develop local criteria • Dynamic (sensitive) Indicator (correlates) of Basic Skills (not content areas) • Uses local curriculum • Formative evaluation • Use in a problem solving model • Uses at individual, class, and school levels

7. CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL CBA MODELS • Test stimuli drawn from the curriculum • Repeated testing occurs over time • Useful in instructional planning

8. Categories of Assessment in CBA • Assessment to promote children’s learning and development • Assesssment to identify children who need health or special learning services • Assessment to monitor trends over time and for program evaluation • Assessment to hold students and/or teachers accountable for academic achievement.

9. Curriculum-based assessment Differ In Terms Of…. • Goals – Long term vs. short term goals • Objectives - Short term objectives • Task analysis • Emphasis on fluency • Use in time series analysis

10. Advantages Of CBA • Focus on end of year goal, not sequential skill analysis • Can evaluate variety of instructional methods • Automatically assesses retention and generalization • Don’t need to alter testing strategies • Avoid issues with measurement shift • Can be normed locally

11. CBA IS A MEASURE OF PROFICIENCY PROFICIENCY FLUENCY= ACCURACY SPEED MASTERY ACCURACY TEACHING ACQUISITION

12. Strategies For Curriculum Based Assessment • Effective assessment must begin by identifying what the teacher need to know and how the information will be used: • Time/Activity Samples log a child’s daily activities or patterns of behavior for a group of children. This samples also provides information about children’s interest in specific learning areas/activities. • A tally is a record of behavior over a period of time, often focused on a specific type of behavior (eg. Aggression). Tallies provide a baseline with which to assess a child’s improvement. • Running Narratives - help teachers recall how often and under what circumstances an activity has been offered. • Important isolated incidents (most often injury or inappropriate behavior) should be recorded on and incident report.

13. Strategies For Curriculum Based Assessment 6. Anectdotal Records – are most useful when they describe (rather than interpret) children’s behavior. Description should include the context for the action, and the total record should reflect many different contexts. 7. Record should be made promptly following observation or assessment, and be specific. 8. Children should be assessed on a regular rotating basis. 9. Checklists – allow teachers to quickly record observation of childrens skills and abilities by listing the date awhen skills are achieved. 10. Rating scales – indicate frequency of observation, rather than dates. 11. Conferences, conversations and interviews with children will reveal productive language abilities as well as eliciting information about attitudes and interest.

14. Strategies For Curriculum Based Assessment • Parent questionnaires – provide information about antecedents activities that may explain school behaviors and allow parents to communicate concerns and beliefs about the program. • Self evaluation – helps teachers to understand how children view their own skills and interests.

15. Techniques Of Natural Assessment

16. Why assessment? • Assessment is a way to chart a child’s progress over time, provide feedback to a child’s parent(s), or help with classroom management and discipline. • Often, we choose to engage in assessment because we see disruptive or dangerous behavior, and/or because we see “normal behavior exhibited in inappropriate contexts” (Salvia & Ysseldyke, 1995, p. 207). • The primary reasons for assessment identified in the literature are to screen for disabilities; to assess kindergarten readiness; to assist in developing curriculum and daily activities; to evaluate the effectiveness of a project or a program; and to provide feedback to parents.

17. What is Natural Assessment? • An informal methods (eg Observations) in child natural setting, such as classroom and playground. • Results from natural assessment are not usually compared to standardized norms or averages. • Early educators have observed and recorded children’s behavior naturalistically, watching children in their natural environments as youngsters carry out everyday activities. • These observations have proven effective for purposes of chronicling children’s development, cataloging their accomplishments, and tailoring programs and activities within the classroom to meet young children’s rapidly changing needs.

18. Why Natural Assessment Technique? • Because… • young children learn in ways and at rates different from older children and adults, we must tailor our assessments accordingly. • young children come to know things through doing as well as through listening • Children often represent their knowledge better by showing than by talking or writing, • young children do not have the experience to understand what the goals of formal testing are, testing interactions may be very difficult or impossible to structure appropriately. • Young children develop and learn so fast, tests given at one point in time may not give a complete picture of learning. • young children’s achievements at any point are the result of a complex mix of their ability to learn and past learning opportunities, it is a mistake to interpret measures of past learning as evidence of what could be learned. • For these reasons, how we assess young children and the principles that frame such assessments need special attention. What works for older children or adults will not work for younger children; they have unique needs that we, as adults, are obliged to recognize if we are to optimize their development

19. Observation Technique • Subjective: What is impression of what happened during the time that you observed. • Objective: What did you actually observe? What are the objective behaviors that anyone could observe? What behaviors did you observe that led to your subjective impression? • Assessment: Based on what you observed and your impressions, what conclusions did your reach? Are further assessments needed? • Planning: Given what you know, what would be an appropriate plan for the student or patient? What should be done? What would be helpful?

20. Observation Technique • Classroom and playground observation • Tools: Note pad, pen and watch. • Minutes by minute observation • “Do a 20 min observation on children interaction in class”. • You need to establish some codes for yourself, i.e. Some codes you will need to generate as the child presents particular behavior. • Example: • >T = Child approach teacher ; T> = teacher approach child • W 20sec sharpen pencil= the child wandered around the classroom for 20 sec and sharpen pencil. • OT 30 sec = On task for 30 sec • Off T 60 sec = Off task 60 sec. • LA 20 sec = Look around 20 sec

21. 7 observation techniques • Frequency • Rate • Duration • Interval Recording • Time Sampling • Anecdotal Record • Running records (or Descriptive Narrative Record)

22. 1. Frequency • Frequency counts ... • are a record of the number of times a specific behavior occurs within a specific time period. • Useful for recording behavior which have a clear beginning and ending, have relatively short duration, and tend to occur a number of times during a specified time period. • Requirement: • A specific time period • A specific behavior • A method for tallying the number of events. • A tally sheet is usually used to identify the behavior being observed and to record the frequency or the number of times which the behavior occurs.

23. Examples of frequency technique • Maths related problems. – • The number of maths problem completed on a math worksheet within 15 min. • The number of times a preschooler intentially communicates in an hour • The number of times a student raises their hand during a 10 min class discussion • The number of times a student leaves their seat during science class • Frequency - not suitable for observing behavior that occur at high rate (tapping a pencil on a desk), or when the behavior occur over an extended period of time (sucking tumb).

24. 2. Rate • Similar to frequency. Recording RATES of behavior include gathering information on both the frequency of the observed behavior and the length of the observation time. • Rate is the ratio of the number of times a behavior occur within a specified time period and the length of the time period. • The ratio is computed by dividing the number of events by the number of minutes, hours, or days that the observation occured. • Examples: • Nmber of times student leave their seat during maths class (it can be computed if the length of class or length of observation period is known) . Such as, From the observation, we can calculate the student’s average rate of “out of seat” behavior may be between 12 times per hour. • A student is given 5 min to write a list of 20 words – how many words can he do per minute.

25. 3. Duration • Recording... • Recording the duration of a behavior is done by recording the starting and ending time of a behavior, and computing the length of time that the behavior occurs. • Often used to observe behavior which occur less frequent and continue for a period of time. • Example: A student with crying episodes in class. • Everytime the student cry, you will record the beginning and the ending times. And then calculate the duration of the crying episode. • How long does it take a student to finish a math assignment. • How long does it take a student to clean up • How long does a student tap their pencils on the desk.

26. 4, Interval Recording • Interval Recording is a technique that measures whether or not a behavior occur within a specific time interval. • Total observation time is divided into smaller intervals, and observer record whether or not the behavior occurs within that interval. • Teacher can estimate both the frequency & duration of the behavior. The observer mark only once when the behavior occur, anytime within that interval. • Requires observers undivided attention (since the observation is continuous for a set period of time). • Examples: • Child who throw toys during free-time (period 15 min). Broke time into 1 min interval. • In First min – child throw toys – marked interval • 2nd minute – did not throw toys – do not mark interval • 3rd minute – throw 3 different toys – mark interval once only

27. Content of Interval Recording Sheet • The Interval Recording Sheet contain: • Interval recording • Student name • Date of observation • Observed behavior • Staring/Ending time • Total observation time • Interval recording is useful for any behaviors that can be observed, but have strong time demand upon the observer – which sometimes make this technique inappropriate or unsuitable.

28. 5. Time Sampling • In Time sampling… • the observer records the frequency of a behavior's occurrence over time (longer duration) • Involves observing specified behaviors of an individual/group, record the presence/absence of this behavior during short intervals of uniform length. • Behavior is specified, defined, and limited . • Provides quantitative data or number of events Advantages 1. Takes less time than running record and anecdotal records; 2. Can record data on many children at once; 3. It provides useful information about the intervals or frequency of behavior; 4. Counts of behavior can be used for research purposes. Disadvantages 1. May miss important behaviors; 2. Context of behavior not noted; does not focus on the causes & consequences of the behavior; 3. It is limited to behaviors that occur frequently and not rare behaviors that might also be important.

29. 6. Anecdotal records • A brief narrative account describing an incident of a child's behavior that is of interest to the observer. • Anecdotes describe what happened,how it happened,When,Where, what was said and done • Records are often brief, describe one incident, are cumulative, collected over the school year and often written after the incident. Advantages • Focus on behavior of interest and ignore other behaviors; • Less time consuming than running record; • No special training needed for the observer; • Observer can catch an unexpected incident no matter when it occurs, for it is usually recorded afterwards. Disadvantages • Does not focus on all behaviors; may overlook important behaviors; • Depends on the memory of the observer; • Difficult to use for research purposes.

30. Anecdotal records • Purpose of anecdotal record is to document the event as clearly and accurately as possible. Guideline to record: • Record immediately at the time the behavior occur. • Use a standardized recording form- help ensure all relevant information included. • Record what you observe – not your feelings. Use performance terms. • Becareful of include information about other student (by name) in the record. • Be aware that parents and other professionals have access to the record. • Things to be included in anecdotal record: • Name of observer • Date & Time of incident occured • Name of the student involve in the incident • Description of the observable behavior • Location/setting where the incident occured • Notes/Recommendations/actions taken • Signature

31. 7. Running Records/ Descriptive Narrative Record • A detailed narrative account of behavior recorded in a sequential manner as it happens; not limited to a particular incident like an anecdotal record; and the observer records everything seen. Advantages • Rich in detail; • Focuses on all behaviors, not just one particular behavior; • Does not require a great deal of training; • Understand not only what behaviors occurred but also the context in which the behavior occurred. Disadvantages • Time consuming; • Works well for observing one individual, but is difficult to use when observing a group; • Observers keep themselves apart from the children which would be difficult for a teacher to do.