DIBELS/Justin The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of procedures and measures designed to assess the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. As emphasized by Kaminski, Cummings, Powell-Smith, and Good (2008), DIBELS is a generic indicator and represents a broader sequence of skills to be taught. I approached family friends about using DIBELS to test their younger son, Justin, a sixth grade student. Justin is a high achiever with very good grades and a positive attitude about school. His best subject is math. His parents have been worried about Justin's reading skills. Although he was tutored in reading at Sylvan Learning Center, Justin's parents still do not believe he has attained the proficiency of which they believe he is capable. I hoped DIBELS would demonstrate Justin's reading strengths and weaknesses.

In talking with Justin, I discovered he has a more extensive vocabulary than many of his sixth grade peers. The household is multilingual and, in addition to English, two other languages are spoken at home. Justin attends evening classes twice a week, learning to read and write both Greek and Albanian.

The testing took place in the family's home office. The room was comfortably warm, well lit, and painted in a light color. It was a good setting in which Justin could focus on testing. Justin was prepared for the testing and was cooperative throughout, although he did not seem to be very enthusiastic about the process.

For the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) test, Justin read three passages: "The Grand Canyon" (345 words/3 errors), "Over the Rainbow" (348 words/4 errors), and "Louis Erdrich" (321 words/1 error)....

His scores for the three passages were, respectively, 3/345 = .0086; 4/348 = .011; and 1/321 = .003. The percentages indicate Justin was able to read the passages at the Independent level. However, his reading speed was somewhat slow. (For this test, I allowed Justin to complete his reading of each passage in its entirety; I did not stop him at the end of one minute). Justin met the benchmark score of 40 words per minute (because he was able to read each passage in less than eight minutes), but as he progresses through school he may have difficulty completing assigned readings because he will not have sufficient time. Increased reading speed will facilitate greater academic success as Justin moves into the higher grades. School success seems important to both Justin and his parents. Increased reading speed will be especially important if Justin wants to enroll in advanced or honors classes. Greater reading speed will also help Justin perform better on standardized tests, including college aptitude tests.
On the Retell Fluency (RTF) assessment, Justin's scores were 91, 87, and 71. The drop in the third test score pulled his overall average down to 83. To be on track with comprehension, students should read at least at the benchmark score of 40 words per minute and have a retell score that is at least 25% of their oral reading fluency score (DIBELS Data System, n.d.). Justin's score meet these criteria.

Justin's strongest retell score was on "The Grand Canyon." He mentioned that he knew "a lot" about the Grand Canyon and this prior knowledge was likely a factor in his score. He had the most errors in the passage titled "Over the Rainbow," which was likely of less interest and with which Justin was…