Understanding FastBridge Learning: A Comprehensive Guide

FastBridge Learning is a comprehensive assessment system designed to support educators in screening, monitoring progress, and making data-driven decisions to improve student outcomes in reading, math, and behavior. This article provides a detailed overview of FastBridge, its components, and its applications in an educational setting.

Introduction to FastBridge

FastBridge is a suite of assessments and reporting tools that helps educators identify students' strengths and weaknesses, monitor their progress, and tailor instruction to meet their individual needs. The system is designed to be used within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, providing data to inform decisions at each tier of instruction and intervention delivery.

Core Components of FastBridge

FastBridge encompasses a variety of assessments across different domains, including reading, math, and behavior. The system also includes tools for data management, reporting, and training.

Reading Assessments

FastBridge offers a range of reading assessments designed to screen and monitor student growth in essential literacy skills. These assessments are grounded in Science of Reading research and align with national reading standards.

aReading

FastBridge Adaptive Reading (aReading) is a brief, reliable, and valid assessment used for universal screening and monitoring of student growth throughout the year for students in Kindergarten through Grade 12. Screening scores identify each students’ academic performance level using risk benchmarks and national norms, provide growth rates and growth norms to assess progress toward end of year goals, and indicate the concepts and skills that are above, below, and within the students instructional range. The aReading adaptive algorithm draws items from a large standards-aligned item bank to provide an assessment of broad reading skills that is individualized for each student. The adaptive methodology provides efficient and highly accurate estimates of student ability in just 15-30 minutes. The content and response format of the aReading items is similar to many state assessments and assesses skills and domains including concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, orthology, and morphology.

aReading is a computer-administered adaptive screener that measures broad reading ability. Developed for students in grades K-5, it targets concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension and aligns with national reading standards. The FastBridge adaptive assessments produce a highly accurate indicator of overall performance with as few as 25 items.

Scoring of aReading

FastBridge aReading is a computer-adaptive test (CAT), that uses items calibrated with the IRT 3-PL model to yield scores based on a logit scale. The adaptive algorithm uses Bayesian scoring to estimate the student’s score after each item is administered. The item information function is used to select items that provides the most information based on the student’s current ability estimate. The process is repeated until the student has completed at least 25 items. If the ability estimate does not meet the precision criterion by the 25th item, up to five additional items are administered. The score reported in the system is a linear transformation of the logit scale as follows: Score = 500 + (50*Logit) where Score is the new aReading scale score, and Logit is the initial aReading 3-PL theta estimate. Scores range from 350 to 750.

For screening, FastBridge recommends FASTtrack reading, a tool that enables one-click access to launch online screening assessments. The computer adaptive aReading measure provides highly accurate estimates of broad reading ability for all students across the full ability continuum in K - 12. Screening scores are compared to empirically derived performance benchmarks. These benchmarks define four performance levels: high risk, some risk, low risk, and advanced. In FASTtrack, aReading serves as the primary universal screener and is paired with either CBMreading or AUTOreading to provide personalized and classroom instruction plans in the Screening-to-Intervention (S2i) report. CBMreading assesses oral reading fluency. AUTOreading assesses additional foundational reading skills including encoding, decoding, word identification, synonyms, morphology and vocabulary.

Development and Validity of aReading

The design of aReading has a strong foundation in both research and theory. During the early phases of student reading development, the component processes of reading are most predictive of future reading success (Stanovich, 1981, 1984, 1990; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987, 1991; Vellutino, Scanlon, Small, & Tanzman, 1991). Indeed, reading disabilities are most frequently associated with deficits in accurate and efficient word identification. Those skills are necessary but not sufficient for reading comprehension to occur. Therefore, a unified reading construct was employed to enhance the validity of reading assessment and inform balanced instruction throughout the elementary grades.

aReading was developed based on a skills hierarchy and unified reading construct. Vocabulary, and Comprehension. Items developed for middle and high school grade levels target Orthography, Morphology, Vocabulary, and Comprehension. The adaptive algorithm determines the skills most appropriate for each student, thus, the skills assessed will vary across students within a classroom and grade.

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aReading item development followed the process and standards presented by Schmeiser and Welch (2006) in the fourth edition of Educational Measurement (Brennan, 2006). Graduate students, teachers, and reading content experts served as both item writers and reviewers for those items at the Kindergarten through 5th grade level. Reading content experts developed passages and items for grades 6 through 12. Text complexity and item types were developed to adhere to national reading standards and item development guidelines (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) specifications for various skills of interest, as well as the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ (NAEP, 2011). A stratified procedure was used to recruit a diverse set of item writers from urban, suburban, and rural areas. The item writers wrote, reviewed, and edited assessment materials. Item writing was a multi-year, collaborative, and iterative process. First the literature on item writing guidelines used when developing assessments was reviewed. Next, the literature on multiple-choice item writing was reviewed. Once the literature was reviewed, the guidelines were applied to FAST aReading to examine relevance and utility.

The criterion measure for the first type of validity analysis (predictive validity) is the Gates MacGinitie Reading Tests-4th Edition (GMRT-4th). The GMRT-4th is a norm-referenced, group administered measure of reading achievement distributed by Riverside Publishing Company. It is designed to provide guidance in planning instruction and intervention and is typically used as a diagnostic tool for general reading achievement, which makes it an appropriate criterion for FAST aReading. Like FAST aReading, the GMRT-4th was normed with students in the pre-reading stages through high school levels. The GMRT-4th was also selected because of its strong criterion validity. Correlations between the GMRT composite score and comprehension and vocabulary subtests of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and GMRT composite scores across grades is high (.76 and .78 respectively; Morsy, Kieffer, & Snow, 2010). A similar pattern of results were observed between the GMRT and subscales of the California Tests of Basic Skills (.84 and .81 respectively; Morsy et al., 2010). GMRT scores also correlate highly with Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills vocabulary, comprehension, and composite scores (.72, .79, and. 83 respectively; Morsy et al., 2010).

AUTOreading

AUTOreading emerged from years of research as a fully automated, computer-administered measure of decoding, word identification, spelling, and vocabulary.

CBMreading

CBMReading aligns with skills included in the National Reading Panel Report (2000) and the national standards for English and Language Arts (2010). The FAST CBMreading assessment is given to students in grades 1-8. A teacher listens to a student read aloud for 1 minute while recording student errors. This assessment measures rate and accuracy.

earlyReading

earlyReading is a suite of CBM assessments measuring essential reading skills that typically develop in grades K-1. The assessment suite includes a continuum of 13 subtests that is typical of early reading skill development for most students. Based on research, FastBridge recommends four subtests (three for Spanish) that vary across grades K-1 for screening. Students read sectioned text passages with brief true-false questions that measure literal and inferential comprehension. CBMcomp Recall provides standardized prompts to the student to recall the story. CBMcomp Questions provides directions and 10 standardized, passage-specific comprehension questions with answers. The FAST earlyReading assessment is given individually to students in grades K-1. The proctor marks student responses electronically as the student completes the assessment.

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Math Assessments

FastBridge offers a variety of math assessments that teachers can use to monitor student progress. Note that the measures are organized by skill levels-not grade levels. Grade-level indicators are arbitrary designations but don’t necessarily define what skills a student has mastered.

General Outcome Measures (GOM)

General Outcome Measures (GOM) are math assessments that include a combination of problems reflecting the skill level. GOMs are used for universal screening.

Single Skill Measures (SSM)

Single Skill Measures (SSM) include problems of just one type. SSM is used for progress monitoring only and provides a way for teachers to know if a student has mastered a specific skill being taught.

earlyMath

The earlyMath assessment is administered to students in grades K-1. This assessment is administered individually to students. The proctor marks student responses electronically as the student completes the assessment.

aMath

The FAST aMath assessment is given to students in grades K-8 and measures counting and cardinality, operations and algebraic thinking, number and operations, measurement and data, and geometry. This assessment is administered on a computer and includes 30-60 questions.

CBMmath

The FAST CBMmath assessment has three measures. These assessments are given to students in grades 1-8.

CBMmath Automaticity

CBMmath automaticity measures a student’s fluency with math facts, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The best progress measure for students working toward fact fluency is CBMmath Automaticity, which includes both GOM and SSM. Usually, SSM is best for progress monitoring automaticity.

CBMmath Process

The CBMmath process measures the process that a student uses to complete multi-step math problems. This test is administered on paper and then is scored online by the teacher. The CBMmath Process assessment is the only FastBridge measure that must be administered and scored using paper and pencil. The panel developed a new, additional, scoring option for CBMmath Process.

CBMmath Concepts and Applications (CAP)

CBMmath Concepts and Applications (CAP) is a broad measure of a student’s overall math skill, and it evaluates a student’s skills in solving complex and multi-step math problems. Skills on the assessment range from computation and fact fluency to multi-step algebra problems. This is a computerized assessment, and the student completes as many problems as possible within the allotted time. Like other CBM tools in FAST, CBMmath CAP is designed to show a student’s current skills in relation to year-long learning goals. Instead of grade levels, there are skill levels from 0 through 8. CBMmath CAP items were developed from an existing bank of FAST math items, including those in aMath and Standards-Based Math Assessments. Students complete about 20 math problems by selecting one of four answer choices. Each possible answer can be read aloud by clicking the headphones icon next to each answer choice. CBMmath CAP reports the number of problems a student got correct in 10 minutes. When used for fall screening, we recommend that students complete the level below their current grade, since items in each level reflect content that might not yet have been taught.

Behavior Assessments

Behavior and academic success are intimately connected and need to be intelligently addressed together. SAEBRS is grounded in this conceptual model, which specifies that school success is predicated not just upon academic achievement, but also success within multiple inter-related behavioral domains.

SAEBRS

Individual Screening: By evaluating in which of the three specific domains (i.e., academic, social, or emotional) a student may be at risk, educators may determine what type of support is most appropriate and which problem behaviors should be prioritized through intervention.

Group Screening: SAEBRS data is also useful in program evaluation, and in determining how groups of students may be best supported at Tier 1.

Data Management and Reporting

FastBridge provides a comprehensive data management and reporting system that allows educators to track student progress, identify areas of need, and make data-driven decisions about instruction and intervention.

Individual Skills Report

When reviewing the Individual Skills report, teachers are encouraged to look closely at the “Developing Skills” section. When a student’s list of developing skills is extensive, the teacher must select which one will be included in the current intervention. The Individual Skills reports for earlyMath and the CBMmath assessments show the actual items the student got right and wrong on each section of the assessment.

Group Skills Report

The Group Skills report is available for earlyMath and the three CBMmath assessments. When 80% or more students in a class have mastered a specific skill, it does not need to be taught at the whole-class level, but certain students might need small group or individual instruction to master the skill. This is done because certain basic math skills must be mastered for students to move on to math proficiency.

Training and Support

In addition to the online training modules embedded within the FastBridge system, onsite and online training options are also offered. All day-long sessions include 6 hours of content. All sessions are capped at a maximum of 30 participants in order to provide a high-quality learning experience. Concurrent sessions of 30 participants are available. The costs are as follows: 1 Day Onsite is $3250 with a 30-participant maximum; 1 Day Online (three, 2-hour sessions) is $1500 with a 30-participant maximum; 2-hour Online Module is $500 with a 30-participant maximum. Training packages include beginner and advanced levels as well as individual online sessions on specific topics. FastBridge recommends that all new users purchase the 2-day FAST Essentials beginner package. This option includes one day on universal screening and a second day on progress monitoring. Advanced options for FastBridge training include day-long FAST Focus sessions, provided either onsite or online and cover topics such as leader reports, data-based decision making, and using FastBridge with special populations. Finally, single-topic sessions selected from the FastBridge module library are available for 2-hour online webinars.

Implementing FastBridge in an MTSS Framework

MTSS is an educational process that provides high-quality, research-based instruction and intervention based on individual learners’ academic, social, and behavioral needs, which are identified through screening and progress monitoring. MTSS models include universal screening of all students, multiple tiers of intervention delivery, a collaborative problem-solving approach, and an integrated data collection and assessment system to inform decisions at each tier of instruction and intervention delivery.

Tier 1 (Low Risk)

All students receive effective, differentiated instruction provided by a classroom teacher using evidence-based core curriculum.

Tier 2 (Some Risk)

For students who don’t respond effectively to Tier 1 instruction, Tier 2 supplements core instruction using targeted, evidence-based small-group interventions to help them catch up.

Benefits of MTSS

There are numerous benefits of MTSS, most notably improving education for all students. Implementation of an effective MTSS program eliminates the “wait to fail” situation that prevents at-risk students from receiving intervention sooner versus later. MTSS also provides support to teachers with instructionally relevant, easily understood information which allows them to know what works now to improve a student’s skills. FastBridge helps facilitate and support the implementation of MTSS with an integrated data collection and assessment system to inform decisions at each tier of instruction and intervention delivery and provide built-in support for teachers to be successful and know what to do to support each student.

Universal Screening with FastBridge

The best way to identify students’ instructional needs is to conduct universal screening. Universal screening is the process of regularly checking every student’s performance periodically during the school year. FastBridge screeners are administered three times a year for all students in grades K-9-fall, winter, and spring-because student performance can change drastically across the school year. A student may need support in the fall, but no longer require the added resources in the winter. Likewise, a student may score well in the fall, but struggle later in the year. FastBridge provides evidence-based tools for reading, math, and behavioral screening that are brief and highly predictive of future outcomes-thereby maximizing instructional time and resources.

Interpreting Screening Scores

In FastBridge, students whose score indicates some risk of not reaching an end-of-year learning goal are indicated with one exclamation mark (!). Those at high risk are indicated with two marks (!!). Although screening scores provide a first level of information about student math performance, they do not necessarily indicate each student’s current instructional needs.

Benchmarks vs. Local Percentiles

Benchmarks: These are the standards by which student scores are interpreted. They are used to determine whether students are on track to be successful or are at-risk. FastBridge benchmarks are not based on the scores of students in the school or district. Rather, they compare a student’s level of achievement to criteria aligned with relevant outcomes (e.g., state-mandated achievement tests).

Local Percentiles (aka Local Norms): These compare a student’s score to other student scores in your class, school, or district. Higher percentile ranks indicate better performance compared to lower percentile ranks. A percentile rank of 20 at the school level means that a student scored as well or better than 20% of other students in the same grade at your school (and not as good as 80%). Norm comparisons allow teachers to consider how their students match up to other students in the same class, school, or district.

Understanding FAST Scores for Parents

The FAST assessment is a “Formative Assessment System for Teachers.” The system of assessments is created by FastBridge Learning and is used for screening, progress monitoring, and data reporting for reading, math, behavior, and early development.

Interpreting Your Child’s Scores

A student listed as on track has skills that meet or exceed the grade-level expectation. A student listed as some risk may need additional support to improve the skill and is at some risk of falling behind their peers. This is a critical time to make sure your child receives individualized instruction. Often, these students don’t qualify for extra support services at school, yet they may not improve their skills to grade level with general classroom instruction. A student listed as high risk will need additional support to improve the skill and is at a high risk of falling behind their peers. Children in this category may be receiving additional support services at school.

Factors to Consider

These scores are from one point in time. Was your child having an off day? Was the test administered right before lunch when your child was hungry? Did your child get a good night’s rest the night before the assessment? These are often computerized assessments that require a child to think through a problem, ask for/use scratch paper if needed, come up with a solution, find the solution on the screen, and select the solution they intend to select. The tests given are assessing grade-level material. If your child is in second grade, they are administered questions pertaining to second-grade-level material.

What to Do If Your Child Scores Below Expectations

Did your child score below where you expected? You may want to consider an evaluation by one of our learning specialists or speech-language pathologists. We can help you understand the specifics of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. If your child is not performing at grade level, we can help your child build their skills and find success.

Technology Requirements and Implementation

The FastBridge system is a fully cloud-based system, and therefore computer and Internet access are required for full use of the application. Some of the assessments are computer-administered and others are teacher-administered. A paraprofessional can administer the assessment as a Group Proctor in the FastBridge system. There are embedded online training courses included in the platform and these include certification tests. The courses require between 15 and 30 minutes each to complete. The number of assessments that a teacher needs to administer varies by grade level and so total training time will vary.

Cost and Subscription

The FastBridge system is provided to customers through an annual subscription that is priced on a per student basis. The subscription rate is $8.00 per student. FastBridge subscriptions are all inclusive providing access to all FastBridge reading, math, and behavior assessments, the data management and reporting system, embedded online training, and client support.

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