The DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) Assessment from the University of Oregon is the Amphitheater School District's assessment for all K-1 students. This assessment is research based and used widely across the country. Students are assessed three times each year (fall, winter, and spring) to establish a baseline and to monitor growth. Students are timed in each activity, so fluency and speed are important with each skill. The "Benchmarks" (goals for identifying students at risk with learning to read) have significantly increased as we have moved to the more rigorous natioal Common Core Standards.
In the fall, entering kindergarten students are assessed as a baseline, with only two literacy tasks, First Sound Fluency and Letter Naming Fluency. In the winter, two more tasks, Phoneme Segmentation and Nonsense Word Fluency, are added. In the spring, students will be assessed with Letter Naming Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation, and Nonsense Word Fluency. At each assessment, the "Benchmarks" for determining "at" or "below" grade level increase. In first grade, additional skills are added. The DIBELS Assessment is just one measure of your child's readiness for reading.
First Sound FluencyStudents are orally given familiar words, one word at a time, and the students are asked to produce the sound they hear at the beginning of each word. The teacher says, "What is the first sound you hear in monkey." A correct student response is"/mmm/". You can practice at home to build speed and fluency with different words for each letter in the alphabet. The goals for First Sound Fluency are 10+ correct responses in the fall, and 30+ correct responses in the winter.
Letter Naming FluencySpeed is the key factor here. Students are asked to name as many uppercase and lowercase letters, by letter name, in random order, in one minute from a printed chart. You can point to any word anywhere and have your child spell it for you to practice naming letters. It is good practice to have students identify letters in various texts, sizes, and fonts, since this is what students have to do when they read. The goals for Letter Naming are 29+ in the fall, 40+ in the winter and 42+ in the spring.
Phoneme Segmentation FluencyPhonemes are individual sounds. The word "cat" for example has three phonemes, /c/ /a/ /t/. In this task, the teacher says, "Tell me the sounds in the word cup." The student must break the word apart by sound and repeat it back in pieces. The student has to say /c/ /u/ /p/, giving the beginning, middle, and ending sounds. This is a great skill to practice, even if your child did very well on the task, because students have to improve their speed at every testing. The number of correct responses required to be at "Benchmark-Grade Level" increases at each testing. This is something we practice in class to develop writing skills as well. Students need to hear the sounds to be able to write them down. The goals for phoneme segmentation in one minute's time are: 40+ correct responses in the winter and 20+ correct responses in the spring.
Nonsense Word FluencyThis is difficult for kindergartners because they are used to being asked to blend sounds for real words like "cat" and "mop". Nonsense words are not real words (kuv, tic, wot, sud, fet, con). Students are asked to read nonsense words to test their decoding ability. The goals for nonsense word fluency in one minute's time are: 17+ correct responses in the winter and 28+ correct responses in the spri
You can practice these skills online. Click the button below to begin!
In the fall, entering kindergarten students are assessed as a baseline, with only two literacy tasks, First Sound Fluency and Letter Naming Fluency. In the winter, two more tasks, Phoneme Segmentation and Nonsense Word Fluency, are added. In the spring, students will be assessed with Letter Naming Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation, and Nonsense Word Fluency. At each assessment, the "Benchmarks" for determining "at" or "below" grade level increase. In first grade, additional skills are added. The DIBELS Assessment is just one measure of your child's readiness for reading.
First Sound FluencyStudents are orally given familiar words, one word at a time, and the students are asked to produce the sound they hear at the beginning of each word. The teacher says, "What is the first sound you hear in monkey." A correct student response is"/mmm/". You can practice at home to build speed and fluency with different words for each letter in the alphabet. The goals for First Sound Fluency are 10+ correct responses in the fall, and 30+ correct responses in the winter.
Letter Naming FluencySpeed is the key factor here. Students are asked to name as many uppercase and lowercase letters, by letter name, in random order, in one minute from a printed chart. You can point to any word anywhere and have your child spell it for you to practice naming letters. It is good practice to have students identify letters in various texts, sizes, and fonts, since this is what students have to do when they read. The goals for Letter Naming are 29+ in the fall, 40+ in the winter and 42+ in the spring.
Phoneme Segmentation FluencyPhonemes are individual sounds. The word "cat" for example has three phonemes, /c/ /a/ /t/. In this task, the teacher says, "Tell me the sounds in the word cup." The student must break the word apart by sound and repeat it back in pieces. The student has to say /c/ /u/ /p/, giving the beginning, middle, and ending sounds. This is a great skill to practice, even if your child did very well on the task, because students have to improve their speed at every testing. The number of correct responses required to be at "Benchmark-Grade Level" increases at each testing. This is something we practice in class to develop writing skills as well. Students need to hear the sounds to be able to write them down. The goals for phoneme segmentation in one minute's time are: 40+ correct responses in the winter and 20+ correct responses in the spring.
Nonsense Word FluencyThis is difficult for kindergartners because they are used to being asked to blend sounds for real words like "cat" and "mop". Nonsense words are not real words (kuv, tic, wot, sud, fet, con). Students are asked to read nonsense words to test their decoding ability. The goals for nonsense word fluency in one minute's time are: 17+ correct responses in the winter and 28+ correct responses in the spri
You can practice these skills online. Click the button below to begin!