We have been trained to believe that DIBELS is an effective way to assess
student reading skills. I have been reading "The Truth About DIBELS" by
Kenneth S. Goodman and am concerned that I have been only told one side of
the story by my state leaders and U of O. I don't want to implement DIBELS
without being very sure that the time, money to be spent equals valid
information. I am also concerned about the affects Dr. Goodman state about
how the timed testing is not valid in 5-7 year olds and the stress it places
on the children.
I would appreciate anyone who has information that will help me make a
determination. Is this a "Whole Language" vs. "Phonics" war where we are
talking about personal opinons or is it a real.
Thank your for your thoughts.
On 4/04/06, Margaret Turner wrote:
> On 3/04/06, Kathy wrote:
>> I am an administrator looking at better ways to diagnose reading
>> difficulties for our special education children in the elementary
>> grades. We currently use observation survy in the early grades and
>> frankly, it is hit and miss for children thereafter relative to specific
>> skills. This leaves the inclusion class teachers struggling to teach
>> without a clear understanding of what needs to be supported, etc.
>> Anything you can tell me would help inform our team - thanks!
>>
>>
>> On 1/11/06, Kim wrote:
>>> Maureen, We are also considering DIBELS as an assessment tool. I
>>> would be very interested in reading your paper. Please e-mail it to
>>> me.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Kim
>>>
>>> On 12/08/05, Maureen wrote:
>>>> On 7/14/05, Cheryle wrote:
>>>>> On 7/14/05, A wrote:
>>>>>> I am looking at DIBELS as a potential tool to use in my first
>>>>>> grade classroom after attending a fluency PD this summer. The
>>>>>> teacher leading the session, and several of the teachers in the
>>>>>> session really liked this assessment, which is required for the
>>>>>> Kentucky Reading First schools. (My school is not a Reading
>>>>>> First school.) We are required to administer the DRA, and I
>>>>>> think I will try DIBELS this year too. It is available free of
>>>>>> charge from the DIBELS website.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I am interested in any feedback from folks who have used this
>>>>>> assessment - pro and con. Please don't spare me your real
>>>>>> opinion just because I am thinking of using it. I really want to
>>>>>> know.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>>
>>>>> This past year was the first that we used DIBELS in our district.
>>>>> It has been mandated by the state. It can be time consuming,
>>>>> especially in the grades K-2. Third grade only has the oral reading
>>>>> fluency test. I used it to help me pinpoint areas where particular
>>>>> children needed help. However, my co=workers and I found faults
>>>>> with it as well. I would recommend going to the University of
>>>>> Oregon website (Official DIBELS Homepage.
>>>>> http://dibels.uoregon.edu/) and read the technical papers listed
>>>>> there, especially Technical Report #10 by Good and Kaminsky.
>>>>>
>>>>> My curiosity was aroused when we found that students followed a
>>>>> pattern of pass-fail-pass-fail and so on. TR #10 explains how the
>>>>> creators of DIBELS leveled the passages. It makes no sense to me.
>>>>>
>>>>> For one of my Master's classes I wrote a paper on my findings in my
>>>>> classroom. I would be glad to email it to you if you are interested
>>>>> in reading it.
>>>>
>>>> I am studying for the National Boards. I would love to read the
>>> paper
>>>> you wrote on it. Thanks,
>>>> Maureen
>
> Hi, I am Margaret Turner. I'm a reading coach in Florida. We've been
> using the DIBELS Assessment for about 5 years now. We find it to be
> invaluable in predicting success and failure in reading. What we had to
> learn was that the dibels is assessing the reading process itself. The
> reading process develops the way the dibels assesses; phonemic and
> phonological awareness,the alphabetic principle, phonics, and finally oral
> reading fluency. If we can help the children develop the skills in each
> one of those categories, the goal of reading fluency will happen. From
> there, our real goal, comprehension will occur. It's a process. The
> children can't skip any or the processes and be successful readers. The
> DIBELS allows us to see where they are in the process and address that
> area of weakness. Usually, it works very well.
> Sometimes we have students that can't seem to get it no matter what you do.
> I'm looking for an assessment for those students.