Universal Screening in Panamanian School Population: Reading, Writing and Math

Universal screening is the first stage to identify students at risk of learning disabilities in reading, writing or math instrumental areas within a Response to Intervention model. The main objective of this study was to analyze the adaptation to the Panamanian Spanish of the curriculum-based measurement (CBM): Indicators of Basic Early Reading Skills, Indicators of Basic Early Writing Skills, and Indicators of Basic Early Math Skills (IPAL, IPAE and IPAM respectively for their name in Spanish). ROC curves were calculated to analyze the discriminatory capacity of each CBM, and the hierarchical linear model was also used to analyze the differences in the growth slopes of the students identified as being at risk and not at risk for each of the proposed areas. A sample of 392 Panamanian first grade students from a total of 27 schools was selected. All students were assessed three consecutive times during the academic year, with a three months gap between each measurement time. In general, high diagnostic classification accuracy rates were found for all curriculum-based measurements. Likewise, significant differences were also found between the growth slopes for at-risk and not at-risk students. Unlike students who were not at risk, students at risk made very little progress in their learning.