DIBELS Assessment
To all MZ parents:
You have your child's DIBELS report, now what?
Here are some tips for what to do next:
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS):
Reading Assessment and School-Wide Screening Tool
All elementary schools in the Catalina Foothills School District participate in a school-wide reading assessment called DIBELS. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. DIBELS tests four skills that are necessary for learning to read. Children who learn these skills become good readers.
The skills are:
· Phonemic Awareness: Hearing and using sounds in spoken words
· Phonics: Knowing the sounds of the letters and sounding out written words
· Accurate and Fluent Reading: Reading stories and other materials, quickly and correctly
These short, one-minute fluency measures are used to monitor the development of basic early reading skills. Each test focuses on a different skill and takes about one minute to do. A child’s score indicates whether he or she is likely to be “on track” for learning to read, or whether that child may need some additional support in learning important reading skills. Your child’s teacher will use the information to better help your child. For example, the DIBELS test may tell us that we need to spend more time teaching your child to “sound out” unknown words.
Why do we give the DIBELS?
DIBELS measures are used to identify and monitor children who may need extra support to become good readers. DIBELS also may be used to make decisions about how well our school’s overall reading program is working for all children. DIBELS will not be used to grade your child on his or her report card.
We are working hard to make sure that every child is on target for success. Thank you for your family's effort to support your child's reading.
More information regarding DIBELS Assessments
Letter Naming Fluency
LNF
First Sound Fluency
FSF
Letter Naming Fluency assesses a student's ability to accurately identify names of upper and lower case letters in 1 minute.
The letters are listed out of order.
Research shows that this skill is a strong predictor of future reading success or reading struggles.
This is a phonemic awareness skill.
First Sound Fluency assesses a student's ability to hear and isolate the first sound of a given word.
This assessment is auditory. There is no print involved.
Students are given a spoken word and asked to say the first sound of that word.
Examples:
Fish - student answer /f/
Chip - student answer /ch/
Students who show mastery in this subtest are more likely to be able to independently decode words and kid-spell on their own. Students who struggle with this skill are more likely to become struggling readers now and in the future.
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
PSF
This is a phonemic awareness skill.
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency assesses a student's ability to manipulate the sounds in a word and separate the sounds accurately.
This assessment is auditory. There is no print involved.
Students are given a spoken word and ask to say all the sounds in that word.
Examples:
Fish - student answer /f/ - /i/ - /sh/
Chip - student answer /ch/ - /i/ - /p/
Students who show mastery in this subtest are more likely to be able to independently decode words and kid-spell on their own. Students who struggle with this skill are more likely to become struggling readers now and in the future.
Nonsense Word Fluency
NWF
Phonics is the connection between phonemes (sounds) and written letters.
Nonsense Word Fluency assesses a student's ability to accurately identify letter sounds and blend them together to read unknown words.
Students who show mastery in this subtest are more likely to be able to independently decode words and kid-spell on their own. Students who struggle with this skill are more likely to become struggling readers now and in the future.
Oral Reading Fluency
ORF
Oral Reading Fluency assesses a studen't ability to read a passage accurately and at a good reading pace and rate.
Strong readers will attend to punctuation and read the text with a smooth, fluid pace and with inflection in their voice.
Students who show mastery in this subtest are more likely to be able to be strong, independent readers and maintain reading success in the future.
