WHAT ARE DIBELS?
DIBELS are measures that help teachers and schools determine how students are performing on important reading skills. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. These measures are designed for students in grades K-6.
What skills are measured by DIBELS and why are they important?
The critical skills necessary for successful beginning reading include: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The DIBELS measures assess students on four of these five critical skills, which are often referred to as the “Big Ideas” of reading. The table on page 2 describes each big idea of reading and lists the corresponding DIBELS measure. Which tests will be given to my son or daughter? Each student will complete the tests depending on his or her grade and the time of year. The table on page 2 shows the timeline for assessing your student on the big ideas of reading across grade levels. How often are students assessed? All students in a school building are given the DIBELS test three times each year; usually this occurs in the fall, winter, and spring. This school-wide testing is called benchmark assessment. School personnel may also regularly check on the progress of students who receive extra reading help to make sure their reading skills are improving. These regular checks are called progress monitoring. Students who are progress monitored may complete one or two of the individual DIBELS tests as often as once a week or as little as once every 6 weeks depending on school resources and the needs of the student.
How much time does it take?
Each of the DIBELS tests only takes about one minute to complete. DIBELS tests are “indicators” of the student’s overall reading status, and are not intended to be in-depth or comprehensive measures of reading. Just like using a thermometer to take your child’s temperature, which provides a quick indicator of your child’s general health, these quick DIBELS tests provide teachers with information about your child’s reading health and how well he or she is progressing on a particular early reading skill. Benchmark assessments generally take 2 to 6 minutes to give, depending on the grade of the student and time of year. Teachers only need about 1 to 2 minutes to progress monitor students at each testing time. DIBELS measures allow teachers to get valuable information about students’ reading skills without using large amounts of instructional time.
How will the results be used?
A student’s scores on the DIBELS measures give the school information about whether or not a student is on track for grade-level reading success. A school can quickly identify students who do not meet the goals on each DIBELS measure and provide extra help. For example, if your child is reading words accurately, but slowly, the teacher can provide extra practice re-reading stories and passages to improve his or her reading rate or fluency. The teacher can use the progress monitoring scores to make sure your student receives extra help to improve other reading skills during the school year. Teachers can review scores on DIBELS measures for all the students in a class to make decisions about how to prepare their day-to-day reading lessons. School and district staff can also study the test scores across classrooms and grade levels to make decisions about how to best use resources to make sure that every child in the school, including your child, is on track to become an accurate and fluent reader.
At IQ Academy, students will be assessed 3 times per year (Fall/Winter/Spring). Based upon student scores, they may qualify for literacy intervention services (RTI).
What Is RTI?
RTI stands for Response to Intervention. As part of our commitment to our students at IQ, we have implemented an RTI approach to literacy instruction. Our 5th grade teacher, Dawn Koennicke, also specializes in individualized literacy instruction for grades K-3.
As your homeroom teacher, I will conduct literacy assessments within the first 2 to 3 weeks of school, and recommend services to Dawn based upon results. Our hope is to ensure literacy support so that all students will be reading at grade level or beyond.
DIBELS are measures that help teachers and schools determine how students are performing on important reading skills. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. These measures are designed for students in grades K-6.
What skills are measured by DIBELS and why are they important?
The critical skills necessary for successful beginning reading include: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The DIBELS measures assess students on four of these five critical skills, which are often referred to as the “Big Ideas” of reading. The table on page 2 describes each big idea of reading and lists the corresponding DIBELS measure. Which tests will be given to my son or daughter? Each student will complete the tests depending on his or her grade and the time of year. The table on page 2 shows the timeline for assessing your student on the big ideas of reading across grade levels. How often are students assessed? All students in a school building are given the DIBELS test three times each year; usually this occurs in the fall, winter, and spring. This school-wide testing is called benchmark assessment. School personnel may also regularly check on the progress of students who receive extra reading help to make sure their reading skills are improving. These regular checks are called progress monitoring. Students who are progress monitored may complete one or two of the individual DIBELS tests as often as once a week or as little as once every 6 weeks depending on school resources and the needs of the student.
How much time does it take?
Each of the DIBELS tests only takes about one minute to complete. DIBELS tests are “indicators” of the student’s overall reading status, and are not intended to be in-depth or comprehensive measures of reading. Just like using a thermometer to take your child’s temperature, which provides a quick indicator of your child’s general health, these quick DIBELS tests provide teachers with information about your child’s reading health and how well he or she is progressing on a particular early reading skill. Benchmark assessments generally take 2 to 6 minutes to give, depending on the grade of the student and time of year. Teachers only need about 1 to 2 minutes to progress monitor students at each testing time. DIBELS measures allow teachers to get valuable information about students’ reading skills without using large amounts of instructional time.
How will the results be used?
A student’s scores on the DIBELS measures give the school information about whether or not a student is on track for grade-level reading success. A school can quickly identify students who do not meet the goals on each DIBELS measure and provide extra help. For example, if your child is reading words accurately, but slowly, the teacher can provide extra practice re-reading stories and passages to improve his or her reading rate or fluency. The teacher can use the progress monitoring scores to make sure your student receives extra help to improve other reading skills during the school year. Teachers can review scores on DIBELS measures for all the students in a class to make decisions about how to prepare their day-to-day reading lessons. School and district staff can also study the test scores across classrooms and grade levels to make decisions about how to best use resources to make sure that every child in the school, including your child, is on track to become an accurate and fluent reader.
At IQ Academy, students will be assessed 3 times per year (Fall/Winter/Spring). Based upon student scores, they may qualify for literacy intervention services (RTI).
What Is RTI?
RTI stands for Response to Intervention. As part of our commitment to our students at IQ, we have implemented an RTI approach to literacy instruction. Our 5th grade teacher, Dawn Koennicke, also specializes in individualized literacy instruction for grades K-3.
As your homeroom teacher, I will conduct literacy assessments within the first 2 to 3 weeks of school, and recommend services to Dawn based upon results. Our hope is to ensure literacy support so that all students will be reading at grade level or beyond.