THE UTILITY OF CURRICULUM-BASED MEASUREMENT AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT AS ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT-TESTS

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and performance assessments (PA) ca n provide valuable data for making special education eligibility decis ions. Both of these alternative assessment methods feature connections among curriculum, instruction, and assessment and offer educators mor e instructionally sensitive information than traditional intelligence (IQ) tests and achievement measures. In this article, we review applie d research on both these assessment approaches and discuss the practic al context of treatment validation and decisions about instructional s ervices for students with diverse academic needs. We conclude that CBM is the better developed method and that results from PA should be con ceptualized as supplemental to CBM. By combining the use of CBM. and P A, practitioners can broaden their assessment focus to include skills acquisition as well as skills application and integration within authe ntic contexts. Moreover, they can avoid the negative valence frequentl y associated with IQ tests.