I am applying for jobs in the district I live in and in the "Preferred Qualifications" section is someone who is trained and able to administer the DIBELS assessment. I have taught fifth grade in the past, but we were not required to do this assessment. It many times was in the early elementary grades where teachers did this. Can anyone give me an explanation of this assessment, so if I were to be asked a question regarding it, I would give a knowledgeable answer? I do have language arts on my teaching license, but have only administer reading inventories in order to determine grade level. Is this similar? I am located in Michigan.
Dibels tests phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and comprehension. In the early grades, they test letter recognition, letter sounds, nonsense words and initial sound fluency. However in grades 3-6, it is mostly fluency. Kids read 3 passages, each timed for one minute and then are asked to recall as manny details as possible. There is also a cloze reading portion called DaZE in intermediate. Kids read a passage that has blanks and 3 options for a word to fill in the blank. They have to circle the word that makes the most sense. There are maybe 40 blankets throughout the story and kids get 3 minutes to complete it.
The data is typically used to see which kids benchmark and who needs strategic or intensive interventions.
There is also a math DIBELS that can be given. There is a computation part that measures basic math skills - add/sub, fractions, division, and multiplication - 4x1 and 2x2, and basic facts. The second part is the concepts and application part. This involves applying math skills - story problems, comparing numbers, conversions, time, types of angles, symmetry, types of lines, etc. Both of these are times - in 4th they get 5 minutes for computation and 10 for concepts. They are used as a screener to determine where kids might need more help with interventions.
I have never heard of math DIBELS, so thanks for sharing. I have only thought of the assessment to determine reading instruction level. I'll do some looking into this!
Thanks for sharing your DIBELS information. My last question is, do you need to be trained specifically in DIBELS to administer it? I have administered reading inventories for students in which, in the younger years, they identify sight words, and when they begin to read, they read passages. The administrator looks for mispronunciations and word omissions, etc. to help determine their current reading level. This sounds ultimately like the same thing, but has not been called DIBELS.
Yes, you are supposed to be trained specifically for Dibels. My schoolwould never let anyone do it who wasn’t trained. There are specific scoring “rules”, although it seems like by now there should be some sort of online training! It’s not difficult, just lots of procedures to learn. They give you a script though. Our district offered training each year for anyone new. Could you ask about that?
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05-30-2018, 07:23 AM
