DIBELS Thoughts?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kandice on June 18, 2009 at 7:27pm

Hi Bill-I didn't read the entire research paper yet, but our district uses DIBELS as its primary reading assessment and we are to base progress towards grades/standards on the results of the test. Many teachers agree about the retell fluency and supplement with other assessments such as burns/roe for actual reading comprehension scores. I taught 3rd grade last year and am not super familiar with psf & nwf, but will be teaching kinder next year and most likely use those assessments. I will post again after I read the article.

Permalink Reply by Marie Rush on June 29, 2009 at 8:21am

Kandice,
DIBELS was not created/intended as anything more than an indicator of a childs early literacy skills. It is a very small part of the tools which can be used to assess students--I hope districts will continue to look at the proper uses of the assessment, and scale back on its "overuse" as a final value of assessing student skills.
Marie Rush

Permalink Reply by Dana on June 19, 2009 at 7:59pm

You have some good points in your paper. We use the DIBELS as a means to help identify at risk students. My problem with it is that it is an INDICATOR, not the end all that so many make it out to be! For instance, I have 2 kids that I know have reading and language issues, however, I can not get through IBA with them because they score very well on the ORF part of the DIBELS. They don't comprehend to save their lives, but sound great! Then I have a slow methodical reader who reads with inflection and emotion, but SLOWLY. Everyone wants him to have intervention, which he does not need as he comprehends, etc. It seems we are constantly throwing the baby out with the bathwater whenever educators receive a new test to give!

Permalink Reply by lisa Becker on June 19, 2009 at 10:30pm

Assessment using DIBELS
I can support its use as part of an RTI program. Teachers, counelors, SPED and administration need to review the scores together and make program changes.
But educators need to THINK and use judgement. For example, there is no benefit from having a student who speaks no English sit through these tests the first day of school. It is designed to shift lots of data quickly and is a good first pass.
Who needs intervention? Is the intervention working? Do we need to increase the instructional time or methods? Do other issues (social, physical, emotional, cultural, OT, IQ, ESL... ) need addressing?

Finally, a DRA is great, but for the students who are reading fluently and comprehending, perhaps an informal inventory would be a better use of class time and resources.

Communication with students and explaining the process of learning to read and why we are testing these skills and how these skills relate to reading in the real world is important. The students are the only ones who may decided to become intellectually invested. Lisa

Permalink Reply by lisa Becker on June 19, 2009 at 10:40pm

PSF tests the ability to identify sounds. (Can a child identify the difference of /t/b/p/?)
NWF measures the ability to identify and blend sounds and separates this skill from of the recognition of sight words.

I think of these as the underlying technical pieces of reading.

The fun starts when these skills are automatic and require little cognitive energy. At that point comprehension is able to develop as students are free to think about the content and the art of language. Lisa

Permalink Reply by Debora Ondracek on June 28, 2009 at 4:13pm

My school uses DIBELS as a tool for identifying students for intervention through 5th grade. As a 5th grade teacher, I have always had my doubts, particularly when I compare their scores to recent Georgia Criterion Reference Tests given at the end of 4th grade. I always have one or two who never match. My particular concern is the time taken in repeated weekly assessments vs. instruction in reading and the validity of tracking these scores as a means of assessing teacher instruction (vs. student achievement) at a county level.

Permalink Reply by Amanda Strickland on July 14, 2009 at 2:05pm

In Florida, the school system that I worked for used DIBELS to assess students' progress. As a first year teacher, I did not see how the NWF was relevant to a student's ability to read. It seemed to confuse the students and myself. I felt that it was hard for some students because I had to use class time to complete the assessment. I know that we all have to do that as educators, but those students who have attention issues really struggled with the DIBELS assessment.