Google Dibels. It’s a 1-minute screening test, meant for teachers to be able to gauge who may be in need of additional supports by checking a large number of kids quickly and efficiently. It’s not diagnostic in the least. The webpage is very helpful. It’s really a tool to catch kids who fall behind. I would not see it as an accurate measurement of progress of my child. Their 1 minute could’ve been off that moment.

Anonymous wrote:Our son is a fourth grader in APS, and he just got his DIBELS results. His end of year score is in the Core^ range, which is good. But it is 15 points lower than his middle of the year score. Are the middle and end scores apples-to-apples comparisons? In other words, does this mean that his score somehow decreased in the past five months?

What score within the test was lower? Did his oral reading rate drop from middle to end? Or the MAZE adjusted score?

Kids vary on these test all the time and the Dibels is a normed test. Even if your child grows they might not have increased enough to stay at the same percentile or composite. If they are in the blue range you do not need to worry. It’s also a test given in 4 minutes total. Additionally your kid could have known a lot about the topic of the passages middle of year and not as much end of year. I truly wouldn’t worry if they are in the above grade level range.

He might have just had an off day when he did EOY testing. Do you have any other reason to think he's struggling with reading?

https://www.baltimoreteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/DIBELS8thEditionGoals.pdf

They are indeed apples-to-apples comparisons. The test scores may have variations. If you ask his teacher, he will say, "You do not need to worry about it."

Our son is a fourth grader in APS, and he just got his DIBELS results. His end of year score is in the Core^ range, which is good. But it is 15 points lower than his middle of the year score. Are the middle and end scores apples-to-apples comparisons? In other words, does this mean that his score somehow decreased in the past five months?