Curriculum Based Measurement #2

Description of Student:

The student that I am working with is a 6th grader at SFA Middle school. He is an

11 year old boy with Down Syndrome. He is currently placed under Intellectual

Disability for his primary disability, but also has a speech impairment, and visual

impairment. He is currently in a life skills classroom for all subjects except for electives.

At this time, the student has had a hard time reaching grade level expectations in all core

subjects. His academic level according to Unique benchmark testing is at a level 2, and

he is successfully reading at C independently or a D with instructional support under

Unique Learning Curriculum. His strengths academically are that he can read an average

of 45 WCPM with 1 to 6 errors total. He does a great a job at reading and answering

comprehension questions about different stories we read, and is very good at recalling

information from the text. He has a basic understanding of the value of coins, and is able

to identify coins. He can count by 5s, 10s, and 2s to 100 using a 100s chart. He is also

able to solve addition and subtraction problems using manipulatives. In social studies and

science, he can identify vocabulary words with the support of visual aids, and can

identify the 4 cardinal directions on a compass rose. He also has a great understanding of

living things, and states of matter. Academic weaknesses include difficulty in sounding

out words, and opting out of reading by stating I dont know or I cant when asked to

read, when in fact he has strong reading skills. In math, he will count the number of coins

present instead of counting the value of each coin. He is in need of verbal and visual cues

to remind him of touch points on coins. He also needs help in transitioning from
 counting by 5s to counting by 1s in money. Lastly, he needs reminders of expectations

using prompts or guidance with ideas in all subjects.

Objective:
IEP Goal:
By the end of the 2015-2016 school year, given 1st grade level spelling

words, the student will use spelling patterns and rules to determine and check

correct spellings with 70% accuracy.

My Objective:

Given 10 1st grade level spelling words, the student will write the correct

spelling of each cite word, getting 7 out of 10 correct in 3 trials.

Measurement:
Directions: The teacher will verbally state each vocabulary word on the

presented list. The teacher will tell the student you will be spelling words on a

separate sheet of paper. Give the student paper and pencil, and say, spell the

word (blank) on the piece of paper I will provide you. After this, the teacher will

grade according to the key provided.

Key:
o (+): Correct spelling and Independent.
o (~): 1 to 2 errors for each spelling word, and self-correction by changing

the mistakes that was made.

o (-): Incorrect spelling, and/or guided instruction.

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Total

Work + + + 3/3

First _ + _ 1/3
Class + + + 3/3
 Home _ _ ~ 0/3
Grow ~ + ~ 1/3
Rain + + + 3/3
Safe + + + 3/3
Today _ _ _ 0/3
Need + + + 3/3
Total 5/10 7/10 5/10

Administration Discussion:
The administration process was easy since my mentor teacher was very

willing to allow me to conduct the CBM. This particular student was very easy to

test. He worked very well with and listened well to the directions that were

provided. The strength of the CBM was found in using words that he had heard

many times. This was also seen in the plain language that was used in the

directions. The weaknesses fall in the fact that the student can be very

unpredictable in whether or not he wanted to comply to the directions or the task

that had been asked. The CBM did not take into account the fact that the student

may have trouble with the words or the amount of words he had to focus on.

There should have been only 5 or 6 words, with a varying length to truly test the

students ability. The CBM also did not take into account the fact that there should

have been a randomization in the way the words were presented. This would have

been more effective since the student seemed to start memorizing the pattern. This

would one thing that could be an easy change to make the CBM more effective

and reliable. To ensure the validity of the measure, I will need to make sure the

directions could be a little clearer, and that there is randomization of the word

choices. This will help to make sure that the CBM is fully reliable and easy to

administer for any teacher.

Mentor Discussion:
 The results from the CBM were what both my mentor teacher and I were

expecting. My mentor teacher stated that this student struggles with behavioral

issues and may or may not comply with the directions being given. This struggle

was taken into consideration when the student was given the CBM. She let me

know that if he is non-compliant than there will most likely be a chance in which

he will state, I do not know or I do not want to do this. During our discussion,

my mentor teacher also brought to my attention that providing the words in

sentences may help to re-establish the meaning of words that might help the

students in the spelling of the words. I thought this was interesting because for

some of the words I do not think he understood them. This might have given a

little better understanding of the words he actually knew.

Future Teaching Direction:
To continue the growth in the students progress, there needs to be more

explicit instruction in spelling fluency. The explicit instruction should be seen

through modeling of word identification, phoneme identification, and spelling

fluency. During this time the teacher would be checking for understanding and

growth to establish the key area in which the student needs more specific help.

The focus of the three areas listed above, can help in continued growth of the

students understanding of the spelling words. This student should also have direct

instruction in the expectations that is expected of him during testing time, to help

the administrator have more accurate results and compliance from the student.