Confirmatory factor analysis of Mathematics Progress Indicators (IPAM) in first-grade students

This study analyses the factorial structure of Mathematics Progress Indicators (IPAM), by using Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) techniques. For this purpose, a longitudinal study was carried out with a sample of 176 first-grade students from the Canary Islands, IPAM was administered to the study sample three times throughout the scholar year. The IPAM is a Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) instrument composed of three alternative or parallel measures (A, B and C) that try to measure the same latent structure (i.e., number sense). The IPAM measures were administered three times per year (i.e., fall, winter, spring). Its main objective is the universal screening and evaluation of students' mathematics learning progress in the elementary grades through the evaluation of fluency for different tasks (i.e., magnitude comparison, one-digit operations, two-digit operations, missing number, and position value). Fluency is measured by counting the number of correct answers given by the student at a given time. The results of the CFA confirm a good fit of the proposed model for the different moments of measurement.