The Reliability and Validity of Curriculum-based Measurement Readiness Probes for Kindergarten Students

A series of group-administered curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes were developed to assist in the identification of kindergarten students exhibiting deficient readiness skills. The technical adequacy of the readiness probes was assessed in two suburban, public kindergarten centers. Reliability was assessed in three ways with 107 kindergarten students. Alternate forms reliability was assessed via administration of parallel forms of probes. Source reliability was assessed via independent scorer agreement. Item reliability was assessed via Cronbach's alpha. A random sample of 31 students participated in the validity phase of the study. Concurrent, predictive, and social validity were assessed. Acceptable reliability and validity estimates were obtained for three of the kindergarten probe measures. The use of kindergarten CBM probes as a potential screening device to fit within a larger framework of functional academic assessment and early intervention is proposed.