BRT News

CORE – UO Research Supports Literacy Evaluation Program

April 2020 University research to improve reading fluency assessments will soon be helping teachers across the nation, thanks to a licensing agreement with the education technology company Analytical Measures Inc. College of Education research associate professor Joe Nese developed the Computerized Oral Reading Evaluation (CORE) to reduce the workload for teachers who must frequently test their students’ reading levels. Evaluation combines an innovative psychometric model and a custom set of reading passages with speech recognition software to better evaluate student…
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Celebrating a Milestone

Celebrating 5 years at BRT February 13, 2020 Rob Robinson, one of our Analyst Programmers, was recognized by the University of Oregon in the final months of 2019 for his five years of stellar service to UO. Since coming to the University of Oregon from California State University, Fresno, Rob has both headed up both tech operations at BRT and taken the lead as the primary computer programmer supporting the widely-used easyCBM® system. “Rob is an incredible colleague,” noted BRT…
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NCME – Special Conference on Classroom Assessment (September 18th-19th, 2019, Boulder, CO)

NCME – Special Conference on Classroom Assessment (September 18th-19th, 2019, Boulder, CO) The National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). The purpose of this special conference is to foster dialog between education practitioners, policymakers and researchers around implementing principled approaches to developing and using classroom assessment for teaching and learning. For this third special conference on classroom assessment, we emphasize the importance and role of Research-Practice Partnerships between researchers and education practitioners to advance coherent approaches in the design and uses of classroom…
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Article Published: Changes in Status and Performance Over Time for Students With Specific Learning Disabilities

Changes in Status and Performance Over Time for Students With Specific Learning Disabilities With the shift from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), accountability models are being changed. Given the past 15 years of reporting on student subgroups and IO years using various growth models, accountability systems can now be better informed. In this study, we analyze identification and services of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs). First, we document the degree to which they…
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Initial Norms for the easyCBM® Spanish Language Vocabulary Assessments (Technical Report No. 1901)

Alonzo, J. Initial norms for the easyCBM® Spanish language vocabulary assessments.(Technical Report No. 1901). Eugene, OR: Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon. This technical brief describes the easyCBM® Spanish language Vocabulary assessments added to the easyCBM® system in the fall of 2018 and provides the initial norms for the fall and winter assessments. These norms should be interpreted with caution, as the sample was smaller than ideal, particularly for the Winter norms. TechRpt_1901

ReadWorks Article-A-DayTM: Using a Maze Assessment to Test the Impact Of Building Background Knowledge on Reading Comprehension (Technical Report No. 1902)

Nobles, S., Anderson, D., Raman, M., Laird, K. & Tindal, G. ReadWorks Article-A-DayTM: Using a maze assessment to test the impact of building background knowledge on reading comprehension. (Technical Report No. 1902). Eugene, OR: Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon. This study was premised on the importance of vocabulary in comprehending text. Critical findings from both the National Reading Plan (NRP) and the National Reading Technical Assistance Center (NRTAC) frame this study, both in the intervention that was implemented and…
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CLD (October 11th – 12th, 2018, Portland, OR)

CLD (October 11th – 12th, 2018, Portland, OR) The International Conference on Learning Disabilities (CLD) will be committed to enhancing the education and quality of life for individuals with learning disabilities across the lifespan All individuals with learning disabilities are empowered to achieve their potential. Data-based Decision-making: Exploring Preschool Teachers’ Role in Reading Disability Prevention. Hinkle, H. M., Pilger, M., Irvin. P. S., & Sáez. L. Reading Disability Risk Prevention in Preschool: The LRA Approach. Sáez, L., Pilger, M., &…
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Joseph F.T. Nese Receives a Promotion to Research Associate Professor

Dr. Joseph F.T. Nese was recently promoted to the rank of Research Associate Professor by the University of Oregon. Joe, who graduated in 2009 with a Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Maryland, initially came to work at BRT as an IES Post-Doctoral Fellow. His work was so impressive that he was offered full-time work as a Research Associate as soon as his Fellowship ended. In addition to being the Principal Investigator on an Institute of Education Sciences…
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BRT Affiliate Rhonda N.T. Nese Receives $1,490,000 in 2018 IES Funding

Dr. Rhonda N.T. Nese, who works as a Research Assistant Professor in the Educational and Community Supports research unit within the University of Oregon’s College of Education, recently received the good news that her grant proposal Development of an Instructional Alternative to Out-of-School Suspension was selected by the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) for four-years of funding to the tune of just under $1.5 million. The project extends Nese’s earlier work on preventative strategies to improve student outcomes, and in…
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Classification Accuracy of the easyCBM Kindergarten – Grade 2 Reading Measure (Technical Report 1801)

Alonzo, J. & Anderson, D. (2018). Classification accuracy of the easyCBM kindergarten – grade 2 reading measures. (Technical Report No. 1801). Eugene, OR: Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon. In this technical report, we present results of classification accuracy analyses to identify cut scores to optimize sensitivity and specificity for the easyCBM literacy assessments in Kindergarten through Grade 2. TechRpt_1801