What is DIBELS?
DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) measures are indicators of the skill area they are designed to assess. Just as a pediatrician measures a child’s height and weight as a quick and efficient indicator of that child’s physical development, each DIBELS measure is a quick and efficient indicator of how well a child is doing in learning a particular early reading skill.
**Yes it is good to see your child meet the DIBELS benchmark goals; however, in DIBELS, the benchmark levels are minimum acceptable levels rather than the goal. The goal is for most students to be above these benchmarks.
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
What skills does ORF measure?
ORF measures whether the student can read connected text accurately and fluently.
Why are these skills important?
- One of the strongest research findings is the positive relationship between fluency and comprehension.
- Readers who read dysfluenty often lack underlying skills.
- By looking at the patterns in the ORF passages in the student booklet, the teacher may get a feel for the student’s weakness. A student who misses many words may have underlying issues with phonics or phonemic awareness. A student who reads accurately but does not meet the benchmark score may need to work on fluency.
- A general rule is that students who score lower than 20 wpm on ORF at any age have a strong need for phonics instruction.
- Students that score higher than 40 wpm with at least 95% accuracy will benefit from fluency instruction.
- Students who read with less than 95% accuracy, no matter what their fluency score, mostly likely need help with either decoding skills or with slowing their pace so that they read more accurately (DIBELS: The Practical Manual, p. 195).
- There are at least two tasks that compete for the emerging reader’s attention
word recognition and comprehension.
- Achieving fluent-- accurate and automatic reading at the word level, enables the reader to devote adequate attention to meaning-making, or comprehension, as well.
2nd Grade ORF Goals
***These goals are calculated in words per minute (WPM)
beginning of year (BOY) benchmark: 52 wpm, 90% accuracy
middle of year (MOY) benchmark: 72 wpm, 96% accuracy
end of year (EOY) benchmark: 87 wpm, 97% accuracy
DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) measures are indicators of the skill area they are designed to assess. Just as a pediatrician measures a child’s height and weight as a quick and efficient indicator of that child’s physical development, each DIBELS measure is a quick and efficient indicator of how well a child is doing in learning a particular early reading skill.
**Yes it is good to see your child meet the DIBELS benchmark goals; however, in DIBELS, the benchmark levels are minimum acceptable levels rather than the goal. The goal is for most students to be above these benchmarks.
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
What skills does ORF measure?
ORF measures whether the student can read connected text accurately and fluently.
Why are these skills important?
- One of the strongest research findings is the positive relationship between fluency and comprehension.
- Readers who read dysfluenty often lack underlying skills.
- By looking at the patterns in the ORF passages in the student booklet, the teacher may get a feel for the student’s weakness. A student who misses many words may have underlying issues with phonics or phonemic awareness. A student who reads accurately but does not meet the benchmark score may need to work on fluency.
- A general rule is that students who score lower than 20 wpm on ORF at any age have a strong need for phonics instruction.
- Students that score higher than 40 wpm with at least 95% accuracy will benefit from fluency instruction.
- Students who read with less than 95% accuracy, no matter what their fluency score, mostly likely need help with either decoding skills or with slowing their pace so that they read more accurately (DIBELS: The Practical Manual, p. 195).
- There are at least two tasks that compete for the emerging reader’s attention
word recognition and comprehension.
- Achieving fluent-- accurate and automatic reading at the word level, enables the reader to devote adequate attention to meaning-making, or comprehension, as well.
2nd Grade ORF Goals
***These goals are calculated in words per minute (WPM)
beginning of year (BOY) benchmark: 52 wpm, 90% accuracy
middle of year (MOY) benchmark: 72 wpm, 96% accuracy
end of year (EOY) benchmark: 87 wpm, 97% accuracy