News from the easyCBM team ICYMI

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The easyCBM team has some exciting announcements for the 2025-2026 school year.

New Manual
We have updated the easyCBM User’s Manual — now in a new, easy-to-read format. Be sure to check it out!
Updated National Norms (2025)
Every five years, the easyCBM team at the University of Oregon updates our national norms to ensure that interpretation of student performance reflects current grade-level expectations. Although the vast majority of norms remain quite stable from one norming cycle to another, small changes are to be expected. Data for the updated national norms were pulled from SY 24-25. Our next update will occur in 2030. A technical report, which describes the 2025 national norming in detail, can be found at: https://brtprojects.org/publications/technical-reports/
Updated Default Risk Ratings / Percentile Rank Association
In addition to updating our national norms, we have updated the default settings for the percentile lines (which appear on individual graphs) and risk ratings (which appear in group and benchmark reports). The new settings are: 25th percentile = “high risk”, 26th – 40th percentile = “some risk”, and 41st percentile and above = “low risk”. These settings are empirically grounded and reflect current research on student performance in relation to their peers and successful attainment of “grade level content and performance standards” by the end of the school year. These updated defaults match the guidance provided in the easyCBM User’s Manual.

Please note: We understand that individual school and district policies may require you to use different percentile ranks for your risk ratings. Deluxe subscribers have the ability to override the default settings. To do so, log into your account, click on the Account tab, then on the Manage Settings button, then adjust the settings in the Percentile Line Thresholds section.

Read it all HERE

No more need to be afraid of math

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Scared of math? Madras Dyslexia Association’s toolkit makes it easy and fun to learn
Developed after three decades of working with children who learn differently, the kit is already being used in 50 Chennai schools.

While the kit was initially created to support students with developmental dyscalculia and math learning difficulties, it has also proven to be a powerful learning resource for all students, making mathematics joyful, accessible, and deeply meaningful.

Read more about it HERE

Dyscalculia:Real life Scenarios

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Exploring how visual-spatial awareness affects daily life with dyscalculia. Real stories, real struggles, real solutions — made simple.

see the original post HERE

Learning with games

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Children with dyscalculia show less self-efficacy and more anxiety while engaging in mathematical tasks. In addition to difficulties in basic mathematical skills, such non-cognitive factors negatively impact their mathematics achievement. In contrast, game elements have been found to increase performance, motivation, and task engagement. Accordingly, this study evaluated the effects of game elements in mathematical tasks for children with dyscalculia, dyslexia, or both.

See the study HERE

How Should We Teach Math? General and Special Ed. Researchers Don’t Agree

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About a decade ago, leaders at the Kentucky Department of Education set out to develop guidelines for what quality math instruction should looked like in the state, convening educators from the general education and special education teams at the agency.

But those two groups found themselves at odds over one key issue: encouraging “productive struggle.”

Math leaders wanted to include the approach, in which teachers present students with challenging, open-ended questions that prompt them to grapple with mathematical ideas and persevere to solve problems. But special educators were hesitant, said Amanda Waldroup, the assistant director of the division of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act implementation and preschool in the Kentucky education department’s office of special education and early learning.

Read the full story HERE