Effectiveness of Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)

Abstract

This research shows the effectiveness of Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) at identifying students in need of reading intervention compared to two other reading assessments, the Observation survey (OS) and Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). The percent of time DIBELS agreed or disagreed with OS or DRA was used to determine the effectiveness. DIBELS was found to agree with the OS and DRA for the majority of the data. This shows that the school does not need to waste time and money on an assessment that is not needed. There were a few participants in which DIBELS determined the students to need an intervention when really they did not. This time and money on an unnecessary intervention could have been put towards interventions for students who need them and additional authentic resources. This school already has two authentic assessments that provide useful data to plan future instruction. A third assessment that tells the teachers the same thing while frustrating and confusing the students is not needed. The school would be better off providing the teachers with professional development regarding using the OS and DRA assessment data to guide instruction and plan interventions.