Teaching · Special Education

Every goal starts from a number you measured.

Enter each skill you measured with the comparison your team uses. The organizer sorts the gaps, drafts the baseline sentence and points out what you have not measured yet.

Start a baselineWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the New special education teacher kit, $39 for 31 items.

The baseline

One baseline per student and date. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
Each skill against its comparison, sorted by gap, a baseline sentence and a list of data still to collect.
Who it is for
Special education teachers, case managers and intervention teachers writing present levels.
Format
Browser form. One saved baseline per student and date; printed with the summary or as a blank form; CSV; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the New special education teacher kit ($39) and the Special Education toolkit ($99), and 2 more bundles. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
a starting line for every goal
Drawn for this page. A goal is only measurable if the baseline was measured the same way the progress will be.

How to use it

  1. Note the grade and the data sources you used.
  2. Add one row per skill, with the median of your probes.
  3. Enter the comparison your team uses for that skill and whether higher is better.
  4. Add strengths and the student’s own words.
  5. Fill the gaps the summary lists before the meeting.

Start a baseline

Making the baseline count

Choosing a comparison

Use what your team can defend: the median of the student’s class on the same probe, a benchmark your school adopted from the measure’s publisher, or the grade-level expectation in the curriculum. Name it in the present levels.

Why three data points

Single scores bounce. The median of three probes given the same way is the usual baseline for curriculum-based measures, and matches how progress will be measured later.

What this is not

A norm table or an eligibility decision. IDEA asks present levels to describe how the disability affects involvement and progress in the general curriculum; the comparison you choose is part of that description.

Sources

  1. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.320(a)(1): present levels of academic achievement and functional performance.
  2. Hosp, M. K., Hosp, J. L., & Howell, K. W. (2016). The ABCs of CBM: A Practical Guide to Curriculum-Based Measurement (2nd ed.). Guilford.
  3. National Center on Intensive Intervention, American Institutes for Research: progress monitoring and baseline data resources.
  4. Yell, M. L., & Bateman, D. F. (2017). Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District: FAPE and the U.S. Supreme Court. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 50(1), 7–15.

The example student and scores are made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.