27 of 28 At or Above Level on Mid-Year DIBELS

A few weeks ago, I completed my middle-of-the-year DIBELS testing and am excited to share that 27 of my 28 are at or above level! I have 22 above-level blue students and five students in the green on-level zone. Just one is not quite where he needs to be—according to this test—and landed in the yellow zone just a few points below the benchmark.

I am thrilled with these scores but at the same time not surprised. First, I am well aware of each individual students’ skills and know—well before I test them—how they will most likely perform. How do I know? I know because of all of the intervention work I’ve done with those who have been struggling. I know because of my daily small group instruction and the tracking sheets I keep (i.e., who has passed telling the first sound in words, who can tell me all the sounds in words, and who knows the letter sounds well enough to say all of them in a nonsense CVC* word and even possibly blend them to read the word).

*CVC = consonant-vowel-consonant word, such as cat, fum, pit, gav. Probably 99% of you are well aware of what a CVC word is; however, I explain it because a pet peeve of mine is when acronyms are used—in any field—but not explained. “Nonsense” CVC words are CVC words that are not real words. They are typically more challenging because the student has to figure them out relying on no sense of language whatsoever.

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I share the following reports as evidence that my students did actually score so well on mid-year DIBELS.

MOY = Middle of the Year score, FSF = First Sound Fluency (tell me the first sound you hear in a word), LNF = Letter Name Fluency (how many letters named in one minute), PSF = Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (tell me all the sounds you hear in a word), NWF = Nonsense Word Fluency (saying all the sounds in the nonsense CVC words seen, not expected to blend the sounds at this point) resulting in CLS = Correct Letter Sounds, and NWF WWR (reading nonsense CVC words as a WWR = Whole Word Read without having to say the sounds).

I mentioned above that five students landed in the green “on -level” zone, but you can see that this report only shows four. The fifth was my brand new student whom I tested after printing this.

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Other than achievement, it’s important to look at growth. I teach at a Title I, low-income school. I don’t put much stock in beginning-of-the-year scores because it’s quite possible that students haven’t been exposed to the things we test them on. That being said, I did have 75% of my class in the red or yellow zone in August, with 16 of them red and five yellow. You know I got busy on ten of those red kids right away. Looking at these reports, ten of those red students moved into the blue zone (above level) and of the others, four moved into the green zone (on-level), one is yellow, and the remaining student moved. Again, this isn’t surprising. I know from keeping a close eye on these students and working with them almost daily during my intervention time that they had made incredible growth.

You might wonder about the severity of the needs of my students. I try not to mention them much, to single them out and label them, to make excuses or to expect less of them. I have two students in our severe needs program—one autistic, one other—and they are both at- or above-level on their mid-year testing. I have two students recently staffed, both with severe language delays. One is above-level (blue) on his MOY DIBELS and the other is green (on-level). There are three others with speech (articulation) IEPs, and four more waiting for a screening and possible testing. Despite all of this, growth has been tremendous.

Compare BOY (beginning-of-the-year) scores to MOY (middle-of-the-year) scores.

My own chart I like to keep, to see how those I work with during quiet time/interventions grow and change and score on their mid-year testing. The one student who scored below level (yellow) on mid-year testing was the one student I could not work with during intervention time. Why? Because he was away at another intervention—English language learning. I have arranged with my principal and the ELL teacher to keep him for five minutes every day, starting in January, so I can do my interventions before he leaves the room for ELL.

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I share these scores and these reports for two reasons.

First, you have put your trust in me that what I am doing in my classroom might prove beneficial to you and your students. It is vital that I show you—with hard data—that the scheduling and instructional approaches I take do, in fact, work. The majority of my 28 students are above where they are expected to be for December and a large remainder of the others are where they need to be. And, most importantly, I didn’t have to stress about this as I approached mid-year testing. I already knew, for the most part, how they would perform.

Second, my students’ scores are a testament to the Science of Reading. This is my third year in a row implementing all that I’ve learned about the Science of Reading. The first year (2020-2021), I changed up some things mid-year after taking my required Science of Reading course. Scores were amazing, despite dealing with Covid. The second year (2021-2022), I implemented all that I’d learned starting on day one. This was the first entire school year that I documented. My mid-year results were amazing (100% at or above level) as well as the EOY (end-of-year) scores. But, was it a fluke? Could I do it again? Could I attribute it to the changes I’ve made in my instruction based on what I’ve learned and continue to learn? Here is evidence of how this second batch of students is doing. I attribute some of it to moving away from balanced literacy to more structured literacy instruction. I attribute much of it to not following a reading program, to moving along at an accelerated pace, and using the materials I have created for whole group phonics and small group reading instruction. And much credit goes to the way I teach writing, the same way I’ve been teaching it for almost two decades now.

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If you’re wanting to learn more, hoping to improve your instruction, wanting to improve your students’ scores, it’s a new year and the beginning of the second half of your school year. It’s the right time to start doing right for yourself and by your students. I am here for you. I can help you move forward from whatever point you are at right now.

Consider a paid subscription.

Or, if you’re already a paying subscriber, please let me know if there is any way I can help you move forward.

And, look for my upcoming post about my January/February intervention plans based on my mid-year testing and other informal data.

Happy new year! Make the most of it!

Randee