easyCBM® was designed by researchers at the University of Oregon as an integral part of an RTI (Response to Intervention) model. From the start, developers have emphasized the goal of the system: to help facilitate good instructional decision-making.

The assessments on the system are what is known as curriculum-based measures (CBMs). CBMs are standardized measures that sample from a year’s worth of curriculum to assess the degree to which students have mastered the skills and knowledge deemed critical at each grade level. The CBMs on the easyCBM® system are often referred to as ‘next-generation CBMs’ because we used an advanced form of statistics, Item Response Theory (IRT) during measurement development to increase the consistency of the alternate forms of each measure type and increase the sensitivity of the measures to monitor growth. At each grade level, alternate forms of each measure type are designed to be of equivalent difficulty, so as teachers monitor student progress over time, changes in score reflect changes in student skill rather than changes in the test forms.

The easyCBM Lite Edition, is free and limited to progress monitoring measures, under the assumption that teachers will have access to some other form of screening information that will enable them to identify students most in need of progress monitoring. It is designed for small-scale use where teachers are working in schools or districts that are not interested in more system-wide approaches to screening and progress monitoring. To sign up for an account go to: easycbm.com

For specific research regarding these programs, please refer to the Publications section of this website for articles and technical reports.