This article presents the authors' response to Sharon Vaughn and colleagues' article "Response to Intervention for Middle School Students With Reading Difficulties: Effects of a Primary and Secondary Intervention." In Vaughn et al. article, a study in which they provided professional development to content area teachers, with the goal of…

Within the context of a multilayered prevention system, responsiveness to intervention (RTI) integrates increasingly intensive instruction and, at each layer, employs assessment to identify students who are inadequately responsive and who therefore require intervention at the next, more intensive layer in the system. Over the past decade, RTI has…

The primary purpose of this study was to assess whether the relation between curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and specific reading skills changes as a function of grade. In addition, this study sought to identify cutscores that correspond with benchmark performance on a variety of reading subskills at Grades 1 through 4. Participants were…

Examines the effects of a dyadic peer-mediated treatment, Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), on first-grade children's mathematics development. Results indicated that treatment implementation was strong; teachers judged PALS to be effective and generally feasible; and students with and without disabilities, at all points along the…

Illustrates how curriculum-based measurement (CBM) can be used to establish academic growth standards for students with learning disabilities in the area of reading. An introduction to CBM and to the basic concepts underlying the use of CBM in establishing growth standards is provided. Issues and conclusions about appropriate methods for…

Examines the utility of a data-based assessment process to supplement teacher judgments about test accommodations. Results reveal that students with learning disabilities, as a group, profited differentially from accommodations on problem-solving curriculum-based measurements (CBM); teachers over-awarded accommodations; and CBM accommodation…

Explores the effects of different rates of classroom participation on the peer ratings of three student groups: students with learning disabilities; low-achieving nondisabled students; and average- and high-achieving students. Results suggested that, as the rate of classroom participation decreased, ratings tended to diverge increasingly from…

Curriculum-based measurement and performance assessments can provide valuable data for making special-education eligibility decisions. Reviews applied research on these assessment approaches and discusses the practical context of treatment validation and decisions about instructional services for students with diverse academic needs. (Author/JDM)

A historical perspective of the role of school psychologists is outlined, including a discussion of recent developments that encourage a reconceptualization of school psychologists' traditional assessment activity. (Author/LMO)

The effects of computerized teacher feedback systems within curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in the area of spelling were studied. A controlled study involving 27 special education teachers and 54 mildly-handicapped (learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, or educable mentally retarded) students indicated the superior effectiveness of enhanced…

Thirty special educators of 91 mildly and moderately handicapped students were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 curriculum-based measurement (CBM) groups or to control group. Found that use of CBM with both performance indicator and skills analysis resulted in more specific instructional changes and better student achievement than CBM with performance…

Examined how contextual variables affect types of instructional adaptations teachers propose for students experiencing academic failure. Within academic areas (reading or mathematics), teachers (n=76) were assigned randomly to three idea generation formats: oral independent, written independent, and assisted with ideas for potential solutions.…

Investigated alternative reading monitoring measures in addition to time-consuming oral reading fluency assessment. Examined measures suitable for automatic data collection and scoring using computers and acceptable as measures of reading comprehension. Assessed criterion validity of four such measures and identified subset of measures. (Author/NB)

Effects of teacher planning and student spelling achievement of computerized expert system advice (ESA) within curriculum-based measurement (CBM) were studied for 30 special-education teachers and 60 of their elementary school students. CBM teachers without ESA provided more direct instruction on skills; those receiving ESA used more drill and…

Examined students' rates of academic growth (slopes of achievement). Using standard Curriculum-Based Measurement procedures in reading, spelling, and mathematics, students in Year 1 (n=546) were measured weekly; students in Year 2 (n=2,511) were measured at least monthly. Results provided corroborating data across years and interesting patterns…