Each of the three FastBridge™ CBMmath measures has unique features that need to be considered when selecting the best progress measure for a specific student. This article will review the key features, intended uses, and expected growth rates for CBMmath Automaticity.
Features
CBMmath Automaticity is a computer-administered timed assessment of math facts, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to 100. It includes math fact problems that do not require regrouping. The reason that regrouping is not included is that the purpose of CBMmath Automaticity is to document a student’s immediate recall (automaticity) with basic math facts. Here is a table summarizing the CBMmath Automaticity features.
| Feature | Description |
| Content | Math facts to 100 |
| Format | Computer-based assessment |
| Timing | Up to 4 minutes |
| Scores | Number correct in 10 minutes |
Students log in to a computer or tablet device to complete this assessment. Each student needs headphones in order to hear the directions. Answers are entered by selecting from an array of numerals on the screen using either a mouse or finger. The student completes as many problems are possible in four minutes and then the assessment ends. The student is shown a completion screen but not his or her score when done. The score reported on FastBridge™ reports is adjusted from the student’s raw score and is the number of correct answers in 10 minutes. The prorated 10-minute score is used because it allows comparison with similar assessments from other publishers.
Intended Uses
CBMmath Automaticity is designed to be used for both universal screening and for progress monitoring.
Screening: The content in CBMmath Automaticity matches the skills typically taught in grades 1 through 3. It can be used to screen all students in those grades.
Progress Monitoring: CBMmath Automaticity can also be used to monitor the progress of students in any grade who are participating in interventions to improve math fact automaticity. Although basic math facts are often taught in grades 1 through 3, not all students master them by the end of third grade. When students in grades 4 and higher need to improve their basic math fact skills, CBMmath Automaticity is the best progress measure to use. In order to use CBMmath Automaticity with students in grades 4 and higher, the FastBridge® district manager needs to set up access to CBMmath Automaticity for those grade levels. In addition, the school management needs to activate student access to CBMmath Automaticity for those students who will use it.
There are multiple different forms for progress monitoring with CBMmath Automaticity. These are different from the screening form which is a general outcome measure (GOM). The other forms include specific types of problems as shown in the following table. There are both single skills and multiple skill forms. For the single skills, the Common Core State Standard addressed by the form is shown. The forms listed below are known as mastery measures because they focus on very specific skills that a student needs to master.
|
Level |
Single Skills |
Multiple Skills |
|
1 |
CCSS: 1.OA.6 1x1 Addition to 10 1x1 Subtraction from 10 1x1 Addition to 18 1x1 and 1x2 Addition to 20 2x1 Subtraction from 20 |
1x1 Addition and Subtraction to 10 1x1 Addition and Subtraction to 20
|
|
2 |
CCSS: 2.NBT.5 2x1 Addition to 100 without regrouping 2x2 Addition to 100 without regrouping 2x1 Subtraction from 100 without regrouping 2x2 Subtraction from 100 without regrouping |
All Single Skills Combined
|
|
3 |
CCSS: 3.OA.7 Fact Families 2x1 Division from 100 no remainder |
1x2 to 12 Multiplication 1x2 to 12 Multi, and 1x2 Division Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division (all skills combined) all without regrouping (excluding basic multiplication facts) |
After determining what type of math fact intervention a student needs, the teacher can select which type of CBMmath Automaticity progress measure to use. In addition to the above mastery measures, there are general outcome measure (GOM) versions of CBMmath Automaticity for each level. The level-specific GOM versions include all of the types of problems represented at each level. GOM versions can be helpful in documenting whether a student has maintained mastery of previously learned skills. It is important to remember that if CBMmath Automaticity is also used for universal screening, those students who use it for progress monitoring will complete the GOM version at the next screening interval.
Growth Rates
There are two ways to evaluate whether a student’s progress toward a goal is likely to result in reaching the goal. One way is to look at the student’s progress scores and see how close they are to the goal. The other is to examine the student’s growth over time. On some FastBridge™ reports, growth is referred to as the rate of improvement (ROI). National norms provide information about expected scores and growth. There are growth tables for all FastBridge™ assessments and these can be found in the Training & Resources section of the website. The expected growth values are found in the Norms tables for each grade. All norms and growth values (ROI) are calculated based on screening scores because their purpose is to show typical and expected performance. It would be very difficult to calculate norms and growth from progress data because of only a small subset of students complete progress assessments. Additionally, the students who complete progress measures are those who are struggling with the skill and their progress (e.g., ROI) might not be typical of other students. Here is an example of the norms and growth table for CBMmath Automaticity for grade 2. The growth numbers are expressed in weekly units.
Information about the three different types of growth calculations can be found in the article Growth Score Explanation.
Growth data are important for two reasons. First they provide a basis for comparing an individual student’s growth to see if it is typical or atypical. Such information can support decisions about continuing or changing math interventions. Second, growth data provide information about a measure’s sensitivity to change over time. The most helpful progress measures are those that will reveal meaningful improvements in students’ skills as a result of intervention. The amount of change that can be expected is one way to consider a measure’s sensitivity to change. The three FastBridge™ CBMmath measures vary in the amount of typical and expected growth over time.
CBMmath Automaticity is highly sensitive to student growth. Using the second grade norms shown above and selecting the scores at the 50th percentile, we see that typical growth on this assessment went from 15 in the fall, to 30 in the winter, and 40 in the spring. It is normal for growth rates to vary during different times of the school year based on when certain skills are taught. Based on these norms we could expect an average second grader to gain 15 points on CBMmath Automaticity from the fall to winter. These data about typical growth help teachers to analyze a specific student’s growth and determine if an intervention is resulting in the desired effects.