Running head: DABBLING IN DIBELS 1

Dabbling in DIBELS

Elizabeth Troup

EDU 325
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Dabbling in DIBELS

Mary is a first grader in an suburban school in Ohio who performs at grade level in

reading, spelling, writing, and math. Upon reading the information sheet provided by her

teacher, some academic areas for improvement that were highlighted include on-task behavior,

utilize stretching, and reading sounds strategy. One of her behavioral strengths is that she is

determined. Additional information supplied on the interview sheet informed that she is

extremely social and communicates well with her other students. Other strengths include

organization skills and following directions. Positive reinforcement and cheers are a couple

motivators for Mary. Mary’s reading tutor can concur with the information from the sheet. She

is always eager to work, optimistic, and joyful. She does struggle slightly with her reading, but

she is determined and works well with her tutor. Mary also loves receiving stickers at the end of

each of her tutoring sessions.

Procedures

I currently work with Mary for Success for All (SFA) tutoring, thus, I am already

familiar with working with her and have established a rapport with her. I met with her reading

teacher and requested for her to fill out the background interview. I came back two days later to

retrieve the interview and assessed Mary using the appropriate Dynamic Indicators of Basic

Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) probes. I informed her that we would be doing something

different in this session. I went through each of the sections as I explained the directions to her

and when she understood, I administered the assessments. I administered the letter naming

fluency (LNF) probe, the phoneme segmentation fluency (PSF) probe, the nonsense word

fluency probe (NWF), and the DIBELS oral reading fluency (DORF) probe. Mary was

compliant during the assessments, as she always is. One probe that proved to be more
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challenging was DORF. She struggled to read many of the words so I needed to read about half

of the words for her so that she could continue. I analyzed the data by looking at the benchmarks

for the beginning of the year for first grade. Although not all of the sections had benchmarks, I

still compared her results to the sections that did include benchmarks for the beginning of the

year for first grade. Based on these results, I selected research-based strategies that would

provide focused instruction which would improve her performance in those specific areas.

Assessments Given

DIBELS is a Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) that assesses five crucial

components of reading. These assessments are administered in forms of one minute probes

(University, 2008). Using the results of these probes, educators can analyze and track the data

for the student’s progress. When the results are examined, educators can make data-driven

decisions to conclude which areas the students need to improve based on the benchmark goals

for the grade level. Mary was assessed in the areas of LNF, PSF, NWF, and DORF. Each of

these areas are significant when it comes to literacy and assessing a student’s fluency.

LNF refers to a student identifying the names of letters in the alphabet. This assessment

is an indicator of a student’s future reading achievement. LNF specifically measures the

student’s fluency in these letters, as opposed to which letters they have already memorized, when

the student is presented with a list of letters, they appear in a random order (Good, & Kaminski,

2012). PSF is a measure of phonemic awareness that tests students’ ability to pronounce each

individual sound in a word. PSF is an indicator of a student’s advancement towards long-term

phonemic awareness (University, 2008). NWF measures a student’s ability to decode words.

This probe demonstrates how students are able to apply their knowledge of letter sounds in order

to read these “words”. Since they only have 60 seconds, the probe also measures automaticity
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when reading new words (Fien et al., 2010). DORF measures a student’s reading fluency.

When students have developed automaticity, they are able to decode grade level text quickly and

with ease. Not only will students decode quickly, but also with accuracy (Roehrig, Petscher,

Nettles, Hudson, & Torgesen, 2008). Students are presented with grade-level text and must read

words accurately and fluently in the minute they are provided. The second part of this

assessment includes passage retell, in which students must provide any relevant words that they

can recall from the text describing what it was about (Good & Kaminski, 2012).

Results and Analysis

Mary correctly identified 30 letters for the LNF probe. According to the DIBELS Next

Benchmark Goals, there is no benchmark goal for the LNF probe. She read 32 letters total,

however, two of them were read incorrectly, which were the letters “p” and “c”. Other than that,

she read the remainder correctly in the 60 seconds provided.

Mary scored a 30 for PSF, which is 10 points below the benchmark goal of 40 for first

grade. She is therefore likely to need strategic support for this literacy area. For this section, she

segmented a few sounds individually, such as the word “hall”. For other words, she combined

the sounds instead of individually segmenting them, such as the word “since”, in which she said

“/s/ /ins/”. She omitted a few of the phonemes for some words, such as for the word “count” she

said “/k/ /ow/ /t/”.

For NWF, Mary got 28 correct letter sounds (CLS) and 2 total whole words read (WWR).

For both CLS and WWR, she met the benchmark goal of 27 and 1, respectively. She is likely to

need core support for this area. She only read two whole words but the rest she made the letter

sounds, and got most of the sounds she read correctly. She read the words “bol” and “kiv”, and

for the rest she stated each phoneme individually.

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For DORF, Mary read the first 16 words of the passage. 8 of them were read correctly

and the other 8 had to be read for her since she took longer than 3 seconds to read them, so her

accuracy was 50%. She struggled to read this section, for many of these words were difficult for

her to read. There is no benchmark goal for the beginning of the year for this section in the first

grade, however the middle of the year benchmark goal is 23 words correct with 78% accuracy.

Table 1

Mary’s Scores Compared to Benchmark Scores

Mary’s Score Benchmark

LNF 30 N/A
PSF 30 40
NWF-CLS 28 27
NWF-WWR 2 1
DORF-Words Correct 8 N/A
DORF-Accuracy 50% N/A
DIBELS Composite Score 100 N/A

Areas Targeted for Improvement

Phonemic awareness. The first targeted area for improvement is phonemic awareness,

since Mary scored below the benchmark goal. During the assessment, she was able to segment

some of the phonemes, but not all of the individual phonemes. A crucial aspect of phonemic

awareness is being able to segment each individual phoneme in a word. In order to blend these

sounds together, one must first be able to break them apart (Chapman, 2003). An instructional

strategy that can help develop phonemic awareness is rhyme generation. This helps students

manipulate the onset and rime. The onset is the beginning sound, such as the letter “c” in “cat”,

and the rime are the letters after the onset, such as “at” in “cat”. This is effective because it

facilitates students being accustomed to the phonemes in each word, as they begin to understand
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what it means for a word to rhyme. This strategy can be used any time during reading class,

such as being introduced in the morning and then later during guided reading. Teachers first

introduce the concept of rhyme and allow students to define it. Then, teachers will show the

rhyming in the context of a poem or song. They can then show students how to manipulate the

onset and rime of the word, such as changing “mat” to “bat”. Teachers can then show students

pieces of different poems and then have the students write their own sentences, only changing

the rhyming word (Antonacci & O’Callaghan, 2012). After that, students can learn to isolate

these sounds in the words, such as clapping for each sound they hear in “mat”. They can then

count how many there are and then move towards blending these individual sounds (Reutzel &

Cooter, 2012). Student progress would be monitored by observing her ability to break apart the

individual phonemes in each word and consistently keep a record of her breaking apart

phonemes. The student will be re-assessed by using the PSF probe from DIBELS.

Fluency. The second targeted literacy area for improvement is fluency. Mary struggled

to read the few sentences of the passage for the DORF probe. One strategy to assist fluency is

known as repeated reading (Pruitt & Cooper, 2008). Repeated readings involve students reading

a short passage of text continuously until they can read it quickly and accurately. These

readings are often timed at 60 seconds each. Once students have achieved this, they can continue

to a master a new passage. This strategy also helps strengthen students’ knowledge of sight

words, since they will become accustomed to seeing so many of the same words in each passage

they read, this will encourage memorization of these sight words. By using the strategy of

repeated reading, students develop automaticity, which is essential to reading fluently (Shimono,

2018). Progress would be monitored by making measurable goals for a correct number of words
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per minute and accuracy for each passage. This strategy will be implemented and continued and

once Mary has achieved her goal, the teacher will set a new goal for her fluency.

Conclusion

Mary is an intelligent student with a bright future ahead of her. Although for a couple of

sessions there were no benchmark goals, she did fall below the goal for PSF and will need

support. She met the goal for NWF, but for DORF and LNF, there were no benchmark goals.

She did struggle with reading the complete words for NWF and did not make it very far in the

passage for DORF. Therefore, two areas selected for improvement were phonemic awareness

and fluency. With the assistance of the strategies for these two sections, Mary will improve in

these areas of literacy, thus helping her become a fluent reader.

This assignment taught me some valuable lessons about CBM. Firstly, I learned that

these assessments are not simply about administering one minute probes, but about collecting

data and making data driven decisions when planning for instruction. The results made it clear to

see which areas of literacy Mary was struggling with, from that I selected strategies to help her

improve in those areas. The data obtained from the results can help a struggling student before it

gets worse. This project also helped me learn about the five different areas of reading, and how

each of them has a place and how they are all needed in order to be a fluent reader. Each of the

probes in DIBELS were targeted to a specific area of literacy. When I initially learned about

NWF, I found it puzzling as to why a student should read made-up words. However upon

learning that this probe measures the student’s understanding of the alphabetic principle and their

decoding skills, I see the value of administering this probe. In the future, I will keep in mind the

value of CBM and use it to guide my instruction for my future students to help them become the

best readers they can be.

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Bibliography

Antonacci, P., & O’Callaghan, C. M. (2012). Promoting literacy development: 50 research-

based strategies for K-8 learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Chapman, M.L., (2003). Phonemic awareness: Clarifying what we know. Literacy Teaching

and Learning, 7(1-2), 91-114.

Fien, H., Park., Y., Baker, S.K., Mercier Smith, J.L., Stoolmiller, M., & Kame’enui, E.J. (2010).

An examination of the relation of nonsense word fluency initial status and gains to

reading outcomes for beginning readers. School Psychology Review, 39(4), 631-653.

Good, R.H., III., & Kaminski, R.A. (2011). DIBELS next assessment manual. Eugene, OR: The

University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning.

Pruitt, B.A., & Cooper, J.T. (2008). Ready, set, go: Three strategies to build reading fluency.

Beyond Behavior, 17(3), 8-13.

Reutzel, D., & Cooter, R. (2012). Teaching children to read: The teacher makes the difference

(6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Roehrig, A.D., Petscher, Y., Nettles, S.M., Hudson, R.F., & Torgeson, J.K. (2007). Accuracy of

the DIBELS oral reading fluency measure for predicting third grade reading

comprehension outcomes. Journal of School Psychology, 46, 343-366.

Shimono, T.R. (2018). L2 reading fluency using timed reading and repeated oral reading.

Reading in a Foreign Language, 30(1), 152-179.

University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning (2008). General information about

DIBELS measures.
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Lesson Title: Fun with Fluency Grade: 1

Learning Target: Students will read from a passage for 60 seconds and read it accurately,
fluently, and with expression.

Grade Level Guide: Content Standards:

Content Curriculum Focal Points Common Core State Interdisciplinary Connections

(ie: NCTM, IRA,…) Standards
NCTE Standard: Ohio State Standard: This can be connected to math
RF.1.4 Read with sufficient since there are 60 seconds involved
1. Students read a wide accuracy and fluency to with each reading. It can also be
range of print and non- support comprehension connected to science or social
print texts to build an studies depending on the passage
understanding of texts, of Virginia State Standard: read.
themselves, and of the 1.9. The student will read
cultures of the United and demonstrate
States and the world; to comprehension of a variety
acquire new information; of fictional texts. i) Read and
to respond to the needs reread familiar stories and
and demands of society poems with fluency,
and the workplace; and accuracy, and meaningful
for personal fulfillment. expression.
Among these texts are
fiction and nonfiction,
classic and contemporary
works.

Academic Language: Fluency, accuracy, expression

Students’ Needs: Students need to have practice with reading enough to be able to blend sounds
and decode words. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can be implemented by having
students read different material depending on their reading level and any necessary
accommodations can be made in order to meet the needs of all the learners.

Student Name Additional Support With: What the Teacher Will Do:
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Mary Fluency The teacher will provide her

additional time to read the material
and practice her fluency. The
teacher will work with her one-on-
one as she reads to the teacher. The
paraeducator will also monitor
Mary and have her read to her.

Materials:
Student Needs: Repeated reading passage, timer
Teacher Needs: Repeated reading passage, book, timer
Language Function:
In the “before” section of the lesson, the students will be describing when they describe how the
instructor is reading the repeated reading passage. They will also be comparing and contrasting
the ways the instructor read the passage the two different times.

Lesson Plan (step by step sequence of the lesson)

Before: The teacher will begin by reading a passage from a book to the students. She will read
it smoothly, accurately, fluently, and with expression. She will then ask the students to share
some things they noticed about the way she read it. The students will be invited to “think-pair-
share”. After the class comes back together and shares what they noticed, the teacher will
reiterate what the students said and add any necessary details, especially the key words
“accurate”, “fluent”, “smooth”, and “expression”. The teacher will then model a demonstration
of reading that is not fluent, accurate, smooth, or with expression. She will explain to the
students the importance of reading fluently, and that in order to understand the text one must be
able to read fluently.

During: The teacher will model the repeated reading strategy. In this strategy, a passage is read
for 60 seconds. This passage will be read until the words are mastered and it can be read
smoothly and accurately. After modeling, the teacher will give the students an opportunity to
read with a partner a reading passage for 60 seconds. The teacher will ask the students to give a
thumbs up or a thumbs down if they understand the activity. If the students do not understand,
the teacher will explain it again until all the students are comfortable with this activity.

After: The students will be ready for the “you do” phase when they all put a thumbs up for the
repeated reading strategy. Now they will have the opportunity to practice this independently as
they read for 60 seconds as the teacher times them and once time is up they will read again. The
students are encouraged to read with accuracy and expression, which will become easier once
they can read the passage more fluently. The students may be given different passages to read if
they are on different levels of reading. If students have mastered the passage while others have
not, the teacher may provide them with a new passage to master. To conclude the lesson, the
teacher will provide exit slips in which the students will answer the question: “what is an
important thing you learned today about reading?”
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Assessment:

Type of Description of Modifications or Evaluation Criteria- How good is

assessment assessment accommodations good enough to meet standards?
(formal or informal; What will students do to the assessment. Include the criteria they must meet and
formative or to show what they List the student’s the number of times you want to
summative) have learned? name and the demonstrated. Refer to your learning
specific target and the language function
modification you statements to ensure you assess
will give. required areas.

Informal formative Thumbs up and Mary: The Students must raise a thumbs up or
assessment thumbs down: The teacher will down to demonstrate whether or not
students will put a modify this they understand the activity. The
thumbs up if they assessment by criteria to be met should be a thumbs
understand the having the up once they understand and are ready
activity and a thumbs paraeducator help to move on to the “you do” section.
down if they do not. write the exit slip
if she struggles For the exit slip, the students must
Exit slip: At the end with spelling write something meaningful that they
of the lesson, the certain words. learned about reading that day. Some
students will be given key words the teacher will look for are
an exit slip to write accuracy, expression, and fluency. If
something important the student writes about that or at least
that they learned in relation to that then the exit slip is
today. good enough to meet standards.

Plan for Classroom Management: The teacher will utilize several behavior management
strategies including positive reinforcement and behavior specific praise. The teacher will also
implement positive and negative punishments if necessary.

Paraeducator Support: A paraeducator can be utilized during this lesson by observing the
students reading and helping them if necessary by working one-on-one with them. The
paraeducator will be there especially for Mary and support her in any way she needs it.

Resources: N/A