Re: Dibels a toothpick!
Posted by Nancy on 2/11/06

Please, everyone remember that DIBELS assessments are only a toothpick!
When you have fine readers in your classroom, meaning fluent and expressive
and successful with breaking the code - WHY DIBEL them? Only to label them?
For what??? The Dibels assessments CAN help you identify those in question
of not having "broken the code" of word calling - but only that. I am observing
too many times that DIBELS assessments plop all children into a "special" group
and all are instructed the same because they have been labeled intensive.
Please do not do this. Each child has specific reasons for struggling with the
passage and we owe it to them to search for where their skills breakdown. The
toothpick is perhaps a good initial tool - but then they deserve a really good
detailed evaluation of what they need to work on. (Perhaps back to phonemic
awareness, sight words, long vowel patterns, consonant digraphs or blends,
multisyllable words?... etc...) or auditory discrimination. visual discriminatioin,
vision development (not necessarily acuity but vision tracking, fixation, etc) All
or only a couple of these factors may be impacting the problem with speed, but
identify them and address them. Drilling, or placing them all into the same
program/group does not address their specific problem.

Secondly - how many of you have been teaching the comprehension skill within
your core called monitor and clarify.... or question or .... reflect.... and suddenly
you switch to preparing for, or testing for, speed with ORF? Does this bother
you when at the same time you are pushing SPEED on them when reading their
oral reading fluency passages you preach to monitor/clarify/reread for
understanding/ reflection? It drives me MAD! I have wonderful reflective
thinkers, terrific little readers who employ voice etc. but ... their ORF score is
effected and the State says they don't read FAST ENOUGH! For shame, for
shame they are trying to comprehend some of these weak passages!

Lastly, I couldn't recommend more strongly that you go to the Dibels site (go to
Google and type in DIBELS) then watch the left hand side for technical reports.
It is most enlightening, especially the one detailing the readability of passages.
I would have to say that the "Science" of calculating readability of passages has
a LONG WAY to go! Type "readability" into Google and your head will swim
too.

We have all learned something from DIBELS.
Nancy

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Dibels reading assess., 2/25/04, by Nancy.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 2/29/04, by Amy.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 5/15/04, by Rachel.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 6/05/04, by ellie.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 7/03/04, by Rose-Ann McKernan.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 3/25/05, by Cheryle.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 3/25/05, by Cheryle.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 7/14/05, by A.
• Re: To A:Dibels reading assess., 7/14/05, by kteacher271.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 7/14/05, by Cheryle.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 10/26/05, by Jeff.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 10/31/05, by Monica.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 11/27/05, by Mary Kay Starkey.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 12/08/05, by Maureen.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 12/08/05, by Maureen.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 1/11/06, by Kim.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 2/04/06, by Pearl.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 2/08/06, by Darlene.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 2/11/06, by been there, done that.
• Re: Dibels a toothpick!, 2/11/06, by Nancy.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 3/04/06, by Kathy.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 4/04/06, by Margaret Turner.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 4/06/06, by Nancy.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 6/28/06, by Kathy.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 7/06/06, by Robin.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 9/03/06, by Ginny.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 9/03/06, by Ginny.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 9/10/06, by Parent1115.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 9/23/06, by Kathy.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 9/23/06, by Kathy.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 11/02/06, by Sandi.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 11/22/06, by Ms. Altman.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 12/03/06, by Jane Bain.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 1/01/07, by plcarlson.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 1/30/07, by Kristin.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 5/15/07, by Thomas Davis.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 5/30/07, by a reading teacher.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 5/30/07, by a reading teacher.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 6/02/07, by k teacher.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 3/10/08, by JULIE.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 3/10/08, by julie.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 3/11/08, by capitalize I.
• Re: Dibels reading assess., 4/17/08, by Michelle.