SPED 311 Curriculum Based Assessment I

Name: Emily Frazier

Date: March 3, 2015
School/Setting: SFA Middle School/ 6th, 7th, and 8th Resource Math

How does this project contribute to your skills as an educator?

This project allowed me to come up with my own assessment for a real life
situation. It showed me that I am capable of creating an assessment that will help
the student to achieve academically. Not only was I able to create the lesson, but I
was given the opportunity to conduct the assessment and analyze the results to see
if it was effective. It was great that I was able to see that the assessment worked in
this particular case. This project gave me great insight into what it will be like to be
the empress of my own classroom. I learned how important organizing, analyzing,
and communication are to the success of an assessment. I plan to take these skills
into the rest of my placements as well as my future classroom.

On my honor, as an Aggie, I have neither given nor received

unauthorized aid on this academic work.

Signature____________________________________________

Description:
The student I decided to conduct my Curriculum Based Measurement
Tool on is Eric. Eric is a 12 year old male that is in a 6th grade math
resource classroom. Eric has been in school since kindergarten and has been
diagnosed with an intellectual disability. His IEP calls for him to receive
instruction in a resource math class for 55 minutes, five days a week. He is
also in a resource classroom for ELA. Eric has trouble reaching his objectives
in both Math and English.
Eric has awesome social skills. He is an athlete and very well known
amongst his classmates. He is very personable and easy to get to know. He
enjoys talking about sports, and can talk about the Seahawks for hours. The
problem with his social skills is that they get in the way of him participating
in class and completing his work. He is so concerned about being the center
of attention that he forgets that he needs to be diligent in his work. Eric just
loves getting as much attention as possible. My mentor teacher and I have
discussed that Eric is often asking for help just for attention. I will be
addressing this issue in my CBM.
Eric is not a very quick learner. Eric needs constant reminders of what
to do next in multi-step problems. We are not sure if he really needs help or if
he is just seeking attention. Through reviewing his test grades, it looks as if
he really does need the help. Eric also tends to sit and stare at his work for a
long period of time before writing anything. Even though Eric is struggling
with his learning, he still seems determined to learn. However, because he

continues to score poorly, I will be addressing whether or not he needs to be

prompted while doing multi-step problems.
Eric is struggling academically in both Math and ELA but is passing all
of his other classes. I am not sure of his English grade, but I do know that he
is currently making a 63 in Math. Erics determination is definitely one of his
strengths. His grade is a misrepresentation of how hard he works for his
grade. He is always doing extra credit or test corrections in order to bump up
his grade. Erics weakness is that he just cannot make good grades in Math.
The hope is that through this CBM we can discover new information that
could aid in Erics mathematical ability.

IEP Objective: Over a 36 week period, Eric will be able to solve multi-step
problems.
Objective: Without help from the teacher, Eric will answer the 8 functions
given to him getting 6/8 correct in two out of five trials over a two week
period.

Measurement Tool:
Februar
y 16-27

Trail 1

Trial 2

Trail 3

Trial 4

Trial 5

x-13=8

4x=36

1/8

3/8

6/8

6/8

7/8

2x+6=1
6
12+x=2
3
(1/2)x=3
0
15=3x
22=5x-8
48=
(12/x)
Total

( - ) = Incorrect Answer
( ~ ) = Correct Answer (with more than one prompt)
( * ) = Correct Answer (with only one prompt)
( + ) = Correct Answer (without any prompts)

Administration Discussion:
This assessment was created to help Eric with multi-step functions.
This assessment shows exactly what Eric needs help with. Coming into the
assessment, my question was whether Eric can do the problems without any
help or does he have to have guidance from his teacher before he answers
the questions. He was given the same 8 questions each day and was told to
answer them to the best of his ability. I told Eric to try to answer the
questions, but to raise his hand if he needed any assistance. I expressed to
Eric that I wanted to see him do as much of it as possible all by himself.
The assessment went very well. I was able to conclude that at the start
of learning a new topic, Eric will need prompting. If he continues to ask for
help after the first couple of days, he is most likely seeking attention. Eric
really does need help with the problems at the beginning, but after much
repetition he is able to accurately complete the problems.
One of the strengths for this assessment is that Eric was exposed to
many different types of equations. Although the same eight equations were
used in every trial, each equation involves different numbers and problem
solving strategies. I used the same equations because Eric is not a quick
learner. He normally requires much repetition before fully understanding
something. This assessment also allowed me to see which types of multistep problems are still giving Eric trouble. Even with the repetition, he is still
struggling with certain forms of equations. This assessment could have been
improved by providing the teacher with instructions to put Eric in an area

where he would not be distracted and where he would have the teachers
undivided attention. Another improvement could be made for a student who
is more advanced than Eric. This improvement could be to change the
numbers in the equations for each trial given. This would keep the equations
in the same format but would prevent the student from memorizing the
answers. This assessment allowed me to truly witness Erics ability at solving
multi-step equations.

Mentor Discussion:
The results of the assessment are extremely encouraging. Eric
progressed or stayed the same from trial to trial as well as completing the
objective given. This assessment proved that if given prompting at the
beginning of the trials, Eric will be able to complete the problems correctly
and by himself by the end of the two weeks. Eric went from getting 1/8
correct in the first trial, to 7/8 in the second trial. This was an amazing
improvement for Eric.
Eric exceeded the expectations set in the objective. He got at least 6/8
problems correct in three trials. The objective was to get 6/8 in just two trials.
Looking at these results, it helped my mentor teacher and I to see that Eric
excels if he is given practice and prompting at the beginning. It really helped
to give Eric the same questions throughout each trial. We believe this helped
him answer the questions at a proficient level without any prompting. My
mentor teacher and I discussed that the next step for Eric is to do this

assessment without any prompts at all and to also change up the problems
between each trial.
My mentor teacher and I were both extremely happy with the results.
My teacher was glad to see that Eric needs the help and attention at first,
but after a few days of practice, he is just looking for the attention. We went
into the assessment without knowing what to expect. My teacher was
pleased learning this new information that will surely be useful in future
instruction.
Future Teaching:
In the next few days and weeks, the focus needs to be on increasing
the amount of repetition in Erics instruction and work. This will allow Eric to
get as much practice as possible so that he will not need as much prompting.
The assessment proved that Eric does better when prompted with the first
step. This means that the teacher will have to prompt Eric towards the
beginning, but should be able to stop a few repetitions in. To teach this
objective, it is important to take each equation step by step before moving
on to the next one. Writing each step down will also aid in the decrease of
prompting given to Eric. I hope that this assessment will help Eric as he
continues to learn in his math classroom. Eric will be able to become an
independent and diligent worker with the help of these results.