Week Nine Assignment One

            After reviewing each of the different links on DIBELS, I was still a little unsure about what exactly these so called tests were about. I decided to Google the work “DIBELS” and clicked on the second link labeled: http://dibels.org/dibels.html. The information provided by this website was really helpful to understand the breakdown of what exactly the DIBELS tests were for and how they would help teachers assess their students on basic early literacy skills. I learned that DIBELS are comprised of seven different measures of early literacy skills. These tests are used to accurately determine a child’s phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with connected text, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. If students are falling behind at a certain level these tests will help teachers provide early intervention to prevent future literacy problems. Through this website I viewed I was also able to see the history of DIBELS and how it came about. I learned that DIBELS were developed based on Curriculum-Based Measurement, or CBM, measurements and was originally researched at the University of Oregon during 1980’s.

            Once I had gained a little more knowledge on what DIBELS were and how they were administered the websites gave me direct access to scores of students. These scores were helpful towards understanding where the students should be at during the school year and where their literacy skills actually were. I was curious as to why some students were tested at the beginning of the year and why some students were not tested at the beginning of the year. It would also be helpful to know how these tests were administered and how the scores were submitted. The scores of the entire school district were also helpful to see how the different students geographically were similar or different.