AIMSWeb

AIMSweb® M-CBM - Mathematics Curriculum-Based Measurement

Math Computation | Math Facts

Computational skill is critical for mathematics success. According to the National Research Council (NRC, 2001), mathematics is comprised of 5 intertwined strands of proficiency, including procedural fluency, skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately. According to the NRC, “students need to be efficient and accurate in performing basic computation with whole numbers”.  Furthermore, students must learn to “use an algorithm for computation with multi-digit numbers as an important part of developing mathematical proficiency”

Assessment of mathematic skills is typically accomplished by giving students a commercial broad-band achievement test that samples a wide range of types of computation problems, but has very few problems of any particular type. Combined with the fact that these types of math tests typically have only 1 form, it is difficult to reliably identify which types of problems student can do correctly, and importantly, to monitor the effectiveness of math interventions by monitoring progress frequently. Math-Curriculum-Based Measurement (M-CBM) Probes are designed to resolve these problems by providing educators narrow-band tests (lots of items across a limited grade-level or type of math computation problem) that are simple to administer and score, that are time-efficient, and that are sensitive to improvement.

M-CBM is part of a type of measurement called Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM). CBM was developed more than 25 years ago, by educational scientists headed by Stanley Deno, Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota as his research team sought to identify reliable and valid ways of assessing students’ progress in the basic skill areas of reading, spelling, written expression, and mathematics computation.

Science-based research (Marston, 1989; Thurber & Shinn, 2002) has shown that having students write answers to grade-level computational problems for 2-4 minutes is a reliable and valid general outcome measure of general mathematics computation for typically achieving students through Grade 6 and for students with severe math problems.

AIMSweb provides M-CBM Probes based on expected computational skills for Grades 1-8 with 40 alternate forms per grade for use in Benchmark Assessment, Strategic Monitoring, and frequent Progress Monitoring. Each probe has 2 pages of computational problems printed front and back that are arrayed in rows.