Using DIBELS Data to Make Instructional Decisions

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Using DIBELS Data to Make Instructional Decisions

• Monday, May 1, 2006

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DIBELS FACTS

• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
• Even the slightest improvement is detected
• Predictive of later reading success
• Basic Early Literacy Skills
• Used for screening, progress monitoring and
  outcome
• Allows for immediate intervention for struggling
  readers
• Valid and reliable when kept to the script

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SCHEDULE OF ASSESSMENTS
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DIBELS MEASURES

• INITIAL SOUND FLUENCY (ISF)
• Phonemic Awareness
• Beginning sound identification tasks
• Assessed Preschool through mid kindergarten
• About 3 minutes to administer

This is mouse, flowers, pillow, letters. (point
to each picture while saying its name) Mouse
(point to mouse) begins with the sound /m/.
Listen, /m/ mouse. Which one begins with the
sound /p/?
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DIBELS MEASURES

• PHONEME SEGMENTATION FLUENCY (PSF)
• Phonemic Awareness
• Breaking 3 and 4 phoneme words into individual
  sounds
• Assessed Mid-Kindergarten through the end of 1st
  grade
• One minute timed task

I am going to say a word. After I say it, you
tell me all the sounds in the word. So, if I say,
sam, you would say /s/ /a/ /m/. Lets try one.
(one second pause) Tell me the sounds in mop.
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DIBELS MEASURES

• NONSENSE WORD FLUENCY (NWF)
• Alphabetic Principle
• Breaking 3 and 4 phoneme words into individual
  sounds
• Assessed Mid-Kindergarten through the end of 1st
  grade
• One minute timed task

Look at this word (point to the first word on the
practice probe). Its a make believe word. Watch
me read the word /s/ /i/ /m/ sim (point to
each letter then run your finger fast beneath the
whole word). I can say the sounds of the letters,
/s/ /i/ /m/ (point to each letter), or I can read
the whole word sim (run your finger fast
beneath the whole word).
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DIBELS MEASURES

• LETTER NAMING FLUENCY (LNF)
• Phonics
• Letter knowledge and rapid naming ability
• Assessed Beginning of Kindergarten through the
  beginning of 1st grade
• One minute timed task

Here are some letters (point). Tell me the names
of as many letters as you can. When I say
begin, start here (point to first letter), and
go across the page (point). Point to each letter
and tell me the name of that letter. If you come
to a letter you dont know Ill tell it to you.
Put your finger on the first letter. Ready, begin.
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DIBELS MEASURES

• ORAL READING FLUENCY (ORF)
• Fluency of all skills applied to reading
• Accuracy and Speed in oral reading of grade level
  passages
• Assessed mid-1st grade on
• Three one-minute timed passages

Please read this (point) out loud. If you get
stuck, I will tell you the word so you can keep
reading. When I say, stop I may ask you to tell
me about what you read, so do your best reading.
Start here (point to the first word of the
passage). Begin.
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DIBELS MEASURES

• RETELL FLUENCY (RTF)
• Comprehension
• The student retells everything they remember from
  the passage they read
• Assessed mid-1st grade on
• One minute retelling

Please tell me all about what you just read. Try
to tell me everything you can. Begin.
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DIBELS MEASURES

• WORD USE FLUENCY (WUF)
• Vocabulary and expressive language
• Words are used in sentences to show understanding
  and expression
• Beginning of preschool on
• About two minutes to administer

Listen to me use this word, green. (pause) The
grass is green. Here is another word, jump
(pause) I like to jump rope. Your turn to use a
word (pause) rabbit.
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DIBELS TERMINOLOGY

• Students identified as
• Benchmark student is on track to achieve the
  typical grade level milestones
• Strategic students that are slightly below
  grade level and needs additional instructional
  support
• Intensive students that are below grade level
  and need immediate instructional intervention to
  prevent further reading difficulties

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CHILDREN DONT CATCH UP

• Poor readers at the end of 1st grade are not
  likely to ever catch up!
• The probability of remaining a poor reader at
  the end of 4th grade, given a child was a poor
  reader at the end of 1st grade was .88 (Juel,
  1994)
• 74 of children who are poor readers in 3rd grade
  remain poor readers in 9th grade
• Poor readers at the end of first grade are likely
  to require intensive instructional support to
  reach third grade reading outcomes

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HOW CAN DIBELS HELP?

• DIBELS provides brief assessment of critical
  areas of reading shown by research to be
  necessary for learning to read
• So teachers will
• Know which students are not performing on grade
  level
• Determine which foundation skills are missing or
  are weak
• Evaluate the effectiveness of their instruction
  program

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DIBELS BENCHMARK GOALS

• Kindergarten
• ISF 25 by winter
• PSF 35 by spring
• First Grade
• NWF 50 by winter
• ORF 40 by spring
• Second Grade
• ORF 90 by spring

• Third Grade
• ORF 110 by spring
• Fourth Grade
• ORF 118 by spring
• Fifth Grade
• ORF 124 by spring
• Sixth Grade
• ORF 125 by spring

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INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS

• Low on ISF and PSF
• Teach Phonemic Awareness MBFH
• Examples of Activities
• Rhyming What word rhymes with cat?
• Oddity What word doesnt belong with the others?
  cat mat bat ran
• Phoneme Blending What word is /k/ /a/ /t/?
• Phoneme Segmentation What are the sounds in
  cat?

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
Recognition Identification Production
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INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS

• Examples of Activities
• Phoneme Deletion What is cat without the /k/?
• Phoneme Manipulation What would cat be if you
  changed the /t/ to /n/?
• Phonemic awareness activities should be
  established by the end of kindergarten
• Children should be able to
• Segment 3 and 4 phoneme words into sounds
• Blend 3 and 4 phonemes into words
• Identify and produce rhyming words

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
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INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS

• Low on NWF
• Teach Alphabetic Principle MBFH
• Examples of Activities
• Letter-sound cards
• Word chain practicing changes in initial
  consonants
• Word chain practicing changes in final consonants
• Word lists
• Sentence strips

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
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INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS

• Low on ORF
• Teach Accuracy and Fluency with connected Text
  MBFH
• Examples of Activities
• Phrasing
• Repeated Readings and Charting
• Partner Reading
• Audiotaped Stories
• Echo Reading

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
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FLUENCY IS

• The ability to translate letters-to-sounds-to-wor
  ds fluently, effortlessly. LaBerge and Samuels
  (1974) described the fluent reader as "one whose
  decoding processes are automatic, requiring no
  conscious attention" (e.g., Juel, 1991). Such
  capacity then enables readers to allocate their
  attention to the comprehension and meaning of the
  text.
• Fluency is not an end in itself but a critical
  gateway to comprehension. Fluent reading frees
  resources to process meaning.
• Fluent reading is dependent on the accurate
  development of components skills (letter sounds,
  vocabulary, comprehension).
• Fluent reading requires ample opportunities to
  engage in successful reading experiences.

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
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FLUENCY INCLUDES

• Accurate and efficient skills in
• Letter-sound correspondences (alphabetic
  understanding)
• Blending sounds to form words (alphabetic
  principle)
• Word identification (regular and irregular)
• Word knowledge or vocabulary
• Comprehension monitoring

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
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INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS

• Low on ORF and RTF
• Teach Comprehension MBFH
• Examples of Activities
• Stating the main idea
• Recounting the story in sequence of the events
• Describing the characters
• Developing a story web to summarize observations
  about the story
• Determining the main events of the story that led
  to the climax

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
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INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS

• Low on WUF
• Teach Vocabulary MBFH
• Examples of Activities Before the Lesson
• Select 10 words for vocabulary instruction per
  week from read-alouds or student text
• Develop student-friendly definition for each word
• Create activities for each day for each word

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
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INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS

• Examples of Activities During the Lesson
• Say the word and have students repeat the word
• Provide a student-friendly definition
• Retell how the word was used in the story
• Discuss how the word can be used in another
  context
• Ask children to provide their own examples of how
  the word could be used
• Facilitate an activity using the word

MBFH More, Better, Faster, Harder
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INTENSIFYING INSTRUCTION

• Dynamic Grouping
• Changing instructional groups when students
  progress/struggle
• Examples
• Changing an intervention group from 15 to 13
• Changing the location of intervention
• Changing instructor

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INTENSIFYING INSTRUCTION

• Dynamic Duration
• Changing time elements of intervention
• Examples
• Beginning intervention in August rather than
  October
• Changing the time of day for intervention
• Changing the frequency of intervention (from 3 to
  5 days/ week)
• Extending intervention from 30 minutes to 45
  minutes
• Splitting intervention into 2 sessions of 15
  minutes each
• Allocating more time to phonics activities over
  phonemic awareness activities

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INTENSIFYING INSTRUCTION

• Dynamic Intensity
• Increase opportunities to respond
• Students should be actively responding (orally,
  written) 7-10 times per minute
• Increase instructional pacing
• Increase intensity of student responses

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QUOTES

• This has given me more things to celebrate
  through repeated progress monitoring and testing.
  I have a chance to celebrate even the little
  gains. It also gives me direction and focus for
  my teaching and for grouping.
  A classroom teacher
• Having used DIBELS, I know better how to
  give strategic support more effectively and
  efficiently. One of the most useful things Ive
  learned is to identify at-risk students early in
  the year and to be consistent with intervention
  groups. DIBELS has helped me to teach more
  strategically to students at the lower end of the
  learning profile. The most dramatic impact on my
  teaching has been the realization of the
  importance of fluency not just knowing letters
  and sounds, but knowing them rapidly and
  accurately. I dont feel that anyone is getting
  left behind.
  Kindergarten teacher

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REFERENCES

• Adams, Marilyn, Barbary Foorman, Ingvar Lindberg,
  and Terri Beeler. 1999. Phonemic Awareness in
  young Children. Baltimore Paul H. Brookes.
• Armbruster, Bonnie, Fran Lehr and Jean Osborn.
  2001. Put Reading First. Washington, DC
  Partnership for Reading.
• Beck, Isabel L., Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda
  Kucan. 2002. Bringing Words to Life. New York
  Guilford Press.
• Good, RolandH., Joshua U. Wallin, Deborah C.
  Simmons, Edward J. Kameenui, and Ruth A.
  Kaminski.2002. System-wide Percentile Ranks for
  DIBELS Benchmark Assessment. Eugene, OR
  University of Oregon.
• Hall, Susan L.2006. Ive DIBELd, Now What?
  Boston, MA Sopris West.
• Juel, Connie. 1988. Learning to Read and Write.
  Journal of Educational Psychology 80 437-447

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THANK YOU

• Kathi Tiefenthaler
• Montana Reading First Specialist
• 444-1872
• ktiefenthaler_at_mt.gov