Curriculum-Based Measures: Past, Present, and Future

At its heart, A Measure of Success: The Influence of Curriculum-Based Measurement on Education is a tribute to Stanley Deno and his contributions to the field of special education. Each chapter begins with praise for Deno’s work to improve services to students with and without disabilities. The contributing authors clearly want to convey not only their thoughts on past and current applications of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) but also their gratitude for the person who laid the groundwork. Anyone unfamiliar with the basics of CBM would benefit from reading the first section in which the authors detail the foundations of CBM. Subsequent sections are organized to describe how CBM has influenced many areas in education, such as special education (for which the tool was originally developed), English language learners, school psychology, and response to intervention (RTI). Throughout the book, the authors focus on Deno’s stance that special educators are problem solvers who should use the tools of CBM to scientifically design their instruction. Although the authors do not explicitly discuss special education placement, they emphasize that teachers should support all students’ achievement of general education standards. A few chapters stand out as bold and thought provoking. In Chapter 6, Gary German not only provides a brief history of special education but goes further to describe what special education has become: