Toward the fair and valid use of curriculum-based measurement for students with intensive writing needs and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a valuable method for assessing students with intensive learning needs, including writing. However, research on English writing CBMs has paid insufficient attention to linguistic diversity, especially among young or beginning writers, raising questions about the validity of CBMs in evaluating multilingual students’ early writing development in English. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the measurement invariance of Word Dictation, a CBM writing task measuring English transcription skills at the word level, across multilingual and English-monolingual students with intensive writing needs in the U.S. Using data from 349 students, primarily in Grades 1–3, we evaluated measurement invariance at both item and assessment levels. Using different scoring metrics and various analytical methods, results revealed a few items as potentially displaying differential item functioning. Results also showed that, at the assessment level, Word Dictation did not function differently across the two student groups. The findings provide important evidence supporting the measure's validity, fairness, and its CBM Stage 1 technical adequacy. We discuss the limitations of the study, along with future research directions and implications for educators using Word Dictation to serve linguistically diverse students requiring intensive support in developing English writing skills.