FastBridge

  • Universal screening is the process of regularly checking every student’s performance periodically during the school year. This helps identify students who are responding well to core instruction, as well as those who may require supplemental (some risk) or intensive (high risk) intervention and instructional support as an integral component of an effective tiered system of support (Ci3T). 

    FastBridge screeners are administered three times a year for all students in grades K-12—fall, winter, and spring—because student performance can change drastically across the school year. A student may need support in the fall, but no longer require the added resources in the winter. Likewise, a student may score well in the fall, but struggle later in the year. FastBridge uses three screening periods to help teachers make informed decisions about intervention throughout the entire year at the school, class, and individual student levels.

    FastBridge has multiple benefits, such as:

    • universal screeners given to students three times each year
    • progress monitoring to more frequently assess student skills
    • predictive assessments for state assessment achievement
    • adaptive, computer-based measures
    • behavior assessments with numeric values and ranges
    • reports for staff and parents
    • less time spent on formalized testing

    FastBridge provides evidence-based tools for reading, math, and behavioral screening that are brief and highly predictive of future outcomes—thereby maximizing instructional time and resources. The unique, multi-source, multi-method approach is designed to more accurately identify instructional groupings regarding students’ proficiency levels, risk, and future outcomes.  When used consistently with fidelity as part of a tiered system of support, FastBridge provides teachers with exceptional and timely data to identify students at risk for academic and behavioral difficulty, as well as supports to implement the appropriate research-based intervention and instruction at the right time and build capacity for data-based decision-making.

    Two of the most useful ways to look at the results of a FastBridge screening assessment are:

    Benchmarks: These are the standards by which student scores are interpreted. They are used to determine whether students are on track to be successful or are at-risk. These are noted in FAST as “!” or “!!” when students are at some risk (!) or high risk (!!). FastBridge Reports display students’ scores, risk levels according to benchmark targets, local norms, and more–all in one convenient report. FastBridge benchmarks are not based on the scores of students in the school or district. Rather, they compare a student’s level of achievement to criterion aligned with relevant outcomes (e.g., state achievement tests). Teachers use these comparisons to identify students who are on track at their current grade level or may need additional support. 

    Percentiles (aka Norms): These compare a student’s score to other student scores in your class, school, or district. Local and national percentiles are reported as percentile ranks and are color-coded. Higher percentile ranks indicate better performance compared to lower percentile ranks. A percentile rank of 20 at the school level means that a student scored as well or better than 20% of other students in the same grade at your school (and not as good as 80%). Percentile ranks provide complementary information to benchmark data.

    It might seem like these purposes are the same, but they are not.

    • Benchmark comparisons help teachers identify who is at, below, or above the expected level of performance for a particular grade.
    • Norm comparisons allow teachers to consider how their students match up to others in the same class, school, or district. Normative comparisons complement benchmark comparisons.

    Parent Access

    Academic reports are available by contacting your child's teacher or school. 

    Parent Guides

     
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