Review: CAMS & STAMS books from Curriculum Associates

I have just finished my review of CAMS & STAMS books from Curriculum Associates... It is a series of assessment books, student worktexts, and teacher guides for struggling students that presents each math topic in a highly scaffolded manner.

These books are supplemental to any basal math curriculum, and have been specifically designed to support struggling students. Each level consists of:

  • a student book (consumable worktext) with instruction and exercises. This is the heart of the program, and always covers the most important topics of the grade level, as given in the NCTM Focal Points and Connections.
  • A test booklet, which contains a pretest, a postest, and four "benchmark" tests. The benchmark tests are to be used to monitor student progress throughout the year.
  • A very detailed teacher guide for the student text, and another, much thinner teacher guide for the assessment booklet.

Read the review!

Comments

Carol said…
Maria,
I appreciate your review of CAMS/STAMS - very helpful. Could you add more comments about the usefulness of the assessment materials? Do you think they're comprehensive enough that CAMS could be used by a teacher to do an overall assessment of a class at the start of the year? As kids move between school systems and teachers, I find they often end up with holes that go undetected until algebra! And if CAMS isn't the right tool for this sort of assessment, I wonder if you have other suggestions. Thank you.
11:48 AM, May 12, 2011
Maria Miller said…
I think they are not good to use for a comprehensive assessment because they are too easy... the word problems especially are too easy. The whole series is designed for struggling learners.

Consider using yearly tests from just about any state, because they are usually available online for free. For example check out Texas math tests. Of course you would use the test from grade level below the one you're starting.
10:03 AM, May 28, 2011
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