DIBELS:Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early

Literacy Skills 6th Edition

A guide for Parents

What is DIBELS?

Measures critical skills that underlie early reading success.Predicts how well a child will do in reading comprehension by

the end of the third grade and beyond.There are 7 levels- Kindergarten through Sixth grade. We only

test K-2nd grade at Cottonwood. Each level contains 3 or 4 short tasks that identifies at-risk

students.All students are given the Benchmark Assessments

(screenings) three times per year.Progress monitoring assessments are given to students

biweekly or monthly depending on their latest testing score.

Based on 2 types of research:1. Predictions of reading difficulty.2. The psychology of people who are learning to read.

• Foundational skills of reading comprehension are measured by each DIBELS indicator.

• Purposes of testing reading abilities are:

-Problems can be prevented in most students.

-Problems can be detected as early as kindergarten and first grade.

-Children need to be taught how to read because they won’t grow out of their reading problems.

“The word “test” is less appropriate for DIBELS than “measure,” “assessment,” or “indicator” because DIBELS is a tool for planning instruction. It is designed not so much for determining a final outcome of instruction but to help improve those outcomes.” It is used as a “screener” to determine what instruction is appropriate for your child.

DIBELS scores:Determine outcomes at the end of the year and on high-stakes

achievement tests. Identifies which children need instruction and groups them

together based on their needs.

Very quick to administer the “simple” skills section of the test and costs less than other tests.“Simple” skills include: naming letters and segmenting speech

sounds and oral reading.

Purposes of DIBELS

1. Screening Starts in Kindergarten Completed during Fall, Winter, and Spring semesters annually

through 6th grade

• 2. Progress-Monitoring

- Done often to measure progress made toward

specific goals.

• 3. Catch and teach at-risk children before they fail.

Start Assessment Early!

Experiences with language stimulation, books, and environment predict later reading ability.

Phonemic awareness, knowledge of letters, and being able to relate the two also predict early reading.

These skills can be measured before learning to read takes place.

Children who are tested early can avoid social, motivational, and behavioral problems.

Advantages of DIBELSScores are reliable.Economical and efficient administration.Computer-based scoring system. Repeated assessment.

Benchmark- 3 times per year. Progress-Monitoring- 20 different tasks or probes

Measures foundational reading skills.Goals are provided for each grade/skill.Decision making about individuals is supportedDecision making about school systems is supported.

Subtests1. Initial Sound Fluency (Kindergarten)

Identify, isolate, and pronounce the first sound of an orally presented word.

Example: the examiner says: This is a sink, cat, gloves, and hat. Which picture begins with /s/? The child is also asked to produce the sound of a presented word.

Response time is measured. Scored by tallying the number of correct initial sounds given per minute. 3 minutes to administer

2. Letter Naming Fluency (Kindergarten to Grade 1) Indicator of risk for reading failure. The student is asked to name letters (uppercase and lowercase) within

one minute.

3. Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (Mid-Kindergarten to End Grade 1) Measure of phoneme awareness. Example: Examiner gives the child a word or syllable with three or four

phonemes and asks the child to say the individual sounds that make up the word. The examiner says SAT and the child says /s/, /a/, /t/.

Score: Number of correct phonemes in one minute 2 minutes to administer

4. Nonsense Word Fluency (Mid-Kindergarten through Beginning Grade 2) Measures ability to link letters with sounds and use that knowledge to

decode three-letter syllables that are non-sense words (sis, sil, com). The child reads VC (vowel, consonant) and CVC words. Receiving credit: The child will get 3 points for reading “raj” as a syllable

or for saying /r/, /a/, /j/. Score: number of correct sounds in one minute. Reading whole syllables gets a higher score than those who produce the

sounds separately. 2 minutes to administer.

5. Oral Reading Fluency (Mid-Grade 1 to Grade 2) Benchmark passages used at each grade level. Measures accuracy and speed in oral reading. Read three passages aloud for 1 minute. Score: the medial correct words per minute from the passages. Errors: words that are omitted or substituted, or hesitations of more then

3 seconds. Immediate self-corrections are scored as correct.

6. Retell Fluency (Mid-Grade 1 to Grade 2) Asks child to retell as much of the story previously read. Score: number of words the child uses to retell within 1 minute. Words must be those that illustrate the child’s understanding of the

passage. Ex: 60 words read per minute. Child retells 15 words which is less than

25%, then there may be comprehension or expressive language concerns.

Benchmark Expectations

“Benchmarks represent MINIMAL levels of satisfactory progress for the LOWEST ACHIEVING students”.

All students have to achieve the minimal expectations if they are all expected to read at grade level or above.

Benchmarks increase as a student progresses from grade to grade (they build off one another).

Time DIBELS Measure Minimal goal for reading success

Cut-off for needing intensive support

Winter, K Initial sound fluency 25-35 s.p.m. Below 10

Spring, K Phoneme Segmentation Fluency

35-45 s.p.m. Below 10

Winter, 1st grade Non-word reading fluency

50 w.p.m. Below 30

Spring, 1st grade Oral reading fluency 60 w.p.m. Below 20

Spring, 2nd grade Oral reading fluency 90 w.p.m. Below 50

THE END!!!

Please contact your child’s teacher or myself if you have specific questions or concerns about DIBELS testing.

Thank you, Mrs. Harper