What Spanish Assessments Does FastBridge Offer?
- earlyReading Spanish
- CBMreading Spanish
- mySAEBRS
How were the CBMreading Spanish and earlyReading Spanish Measures Developed?
These assessments were developed by a team of dual-language researchers who created them using Spanish language and grammar rules. Although these assessments used similar design principles to the English versions, they are not translations of the English versions of these assessments. Instead, they are composed entirely of authentic Spanish-language prompts and rules.
For example, Spanish orthography and syllable rules were used in earlyReading and entirely new stories were written for CBMreading. In order to administer and score the FastBridge Spanish assessments, educators should be fluent in both Spanish and English. Training materials to prepare educators to administer, score, and interpret the FastBridge Spanish assessments are included on the FastBridge website and are available at no extra cost.
Are There Behavior and Math Assessments in Spanish?
At this time FastBridge does not offer Spanish versions of its math assessments.
Can a School Translate the English Versions of FastBridge Assessments into Spanish?
No. Translating any assessment into another language requires careful planning and additional research. There are three primary reasons why schools should not attempt to translate the English versions of behavior and math assessments into another language: (a) copyright restrictions, (b) form equivalence, and (c) comparison data.
- Copyright Restrictions - FastBridge owns the copyright for all the content in its assessments. Altering these in any way and then using the altered form to evaluate students could constitute a violation of intellectual property rights and copyright laws.
- Form Equivalence - Other language versions of current English assessments must use language that maintains the intended meaning and purpose of the items. In this regard, the translation must demonstrate form equivalence. A translation completed locally and not confirmed through research procedures will likely not be equivalent to the original. Without form equivalence interpretation of the scores and existing norms will not be valid.
- Comparison Data - Interpreting assessment scores is difficult without an indicator of typical performance for comparison. FastBridge provides research-based benchmarks and national norms based on scores from a representative sample of the overall U.S. school population that educators use to compare their students’ scores. If the translated version is not equivalent, those comparisons will not be valid. Additionally, educators may want to compare performance on translated versions to students in the targeted population (e.g., native Spanish speakers). In order to make valid comparisons, it would be necessary to collect data from a representative sample across the U.S.
How soon will Spanish translations of additional FastBridge assessments be available?
The FastBridge research team is investigating the steps necessary to develop Spanish versions of other assessments. The work to create Spanish assessments is typically a multi-year, research-based process. Current users will be advised as soon as Spanish versions of other FastBridge assessments are scheduled to be available.