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FastBridge is one of the most widely-used standardized assessments today. It is typically used as a screener instead of an end-goal type of assessment. The test can be administrated at different grade levels to provide teachers with a well-informed transcript of the student's performance. With these scores, the educator will have a better understanding of the students' educational needs.  Students can take this assessment multiple times a year, with some classes having students take it up to 5 times.

Cite: https://www.illuminateed.com/products/fastbridge/faqs/

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Psychometrics of Assessment (reliability, validity, norming process/tables, etc.)

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Psychometrics of Assessment (reliability, validity, norming process/tables, etc.)

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When creating this assessment, researchers at the University of Minnesota specialized in GOM (General Outcome Measurement, CBM, CAT, problem-solving, Response to Intervention (RTI), and Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) when creating FastBridge. Fastbridge also uses nomr-referenced standards to guide their resource allocation within schools or districts MTSS framework. FastBridge also included local and national norms. Local norms include the class, school, and district with at least 70 percent of students having completed the screening assessment. As for national norms, these are based off every student who completed the same FastBridge assessment.

Cite:
https://www.illuminateed.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1_FastBridgeNationalNormsTechReport.pdf

https://www.illuminateed.com/products/fastbridge/faqs/

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The test is administrated all online through FastBridge's cloud-based system. This makes implementation simple for districts since there is no network or computer-based installation required. Once again, the test can be administered 5 times a year and is typically done around Fall, Winter, and Spring.  For score reporting, there are two types of reports that can be used: Screening to Intervention (s2i) and the Individual Skills Reports. S2I is a brilliant feature used to identify students' possible struggles with certain tasks in the classroom. S2I will also provide the educator with possible solutions and alerts that will tell them what may need to be retaught to students who are showing weakness in areas. As for the Individual Skills report, this report simply tells the educator the students' grades on certain tasks completed in the assessment and whether they are at risk or not. There is also online training for educators so that they can use and learn the user interface quickly before proctoring assessments.

Cite: https://www.illuminateed.com/products/fastbridge/faqs/

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Subtests of Assessment (label types and names of subtests)

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Subtests of Assessment (label types and names of subtests)

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There are a number of subtests used for assessment in Fastbridge. They are as follows:
For Reading:
- aReading (K-12)
- earlyReading (K-1)
- CBMreading (1-8 English & 1-5 Spanish)
- CBMcomp (1-8)
- AUTOreading (K-12)
- AUTOreading Composite (K-12)
- COMPeffciency (2-8)
For Math:
- aMath (k-12)
- earlyMath (K-1)
- CBMmath Automaticity (1-3)
- CBMmath CAP (K-8)
- CBMmath Process (2-6)
For Behavior and Classroom Environment
- Dev-Milestones (through FAST Research Labs) (PK-K)
- SAEBRS (K-12)
- mySAEBRS (2-12)
- DBR (Through FAST Research Labs) (n/a)

Cite: https://www.illuminateed.com/products/fastbridge/faqs/

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FastBridge was initially developed for educators to screen students and monitor progress, but it also enables educators to diagnose their curricular and instructional needs. We understand the connection between assessment, instruction and intervention. FastBridge assessments can be used in conjunction with other data to evaluate a student's academic and social-emotional and behavioral (SEB) needs.

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Research of the Assessment (criticisms and values/positive results)

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Research of the Assessment (criticisms and values/positive results)

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As for CATs (Computer Adaptive Tests), there are a couple of critiques about how it is administered. One is the fact that teachers can not necessarily see what students got correct/incorrect. Also, with assessments on the computer, the unmotivated students may just 'click to keys' on them and completely mislead the data. One last thing is about the progress monitoring and its sensitivity to change over time. However, there are some good things about CATs as well. This is a good way to assess the broad skills of students. It can assess the more applied skills of students. It also only eats up a fraction of time from the week at 15-30 minutes.

As for CBMs (Curriculum-Based Measures), there are some cons for them as well. One of the main issues is that it does not directly measure constructs like applied math skills and comprehension which are very important when going on to older grade levels. CBMs seem to be worse predictors of risk for students at upper-grade levels that CATs. Once again, there are some pros to CBMs as well. They are able to assess the specific skills of students well. They also take up a short amount of time, more like 1-2 minutes for weekly progress monitoring. Another big plus is that teachers can actually observe their students' performance of basic skills.

Cite: https://www.cnyric.org/tfiles/folder1306/Overview%20of%20Fastbridge%20-%202.8.19.pdf

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As for my personal opinion of FastBridge, I want to believe that this a valid and reliable assessment used to monitor and focus on the progress of students. I have not personally seen it in classrooms, however, I am excited to see it and how students react to it. For myself, I can almost relate this to state assessments that I took when I was younger, and I personally was excited to take the test every year. I wanted to get 100% every time so I tried my best every year. I wonder if students feel the same way about these assessments. I hope the research and funding put into FastBridge turns it into a very useful tool for educators in the future, like myself.