Curriculum-Based Measurement

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) has emerged as the most prominent, researched, and influential among a number of curriculum-based assessment methodologies. CBM was developed to index the level and rate of student achievement in the basic skills of reading, mathematics, spelling, and written expression. CBM comprises a standardized set of procedures to administer and score student performance. This entry further describes CBM and then discusses its application in schools, its perceived benefits, and concerns raised about the timed conditions of CBM.

As the name indicates, the measurement content was originally sampled from the local curriculum used for instruction. Students would read, write, or perform mathematical calculations for short durations (1–3 minutes). Performance-based responses contrasted with multichoice-type response formats and curriculum-based content contrasted with the generic content of many ...