How Valid Is The DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Test as an Indicator for Identifying At-Risk Readers and Documenting Their Progress?

Abstract

The passage of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in 2001, with its emphases on accountability, quality of instruction, and data-driven decision making, has created a national debate centered around the efficacy of a variety of practices in our nation's schools. The effective use of valid and reliable quantitative assessments to inform instructional and curricular decisions made by reading practitioners and decision makers at all levels is vitally important if student achievement is to be maximized. The focus of this research was on two of these assessments which were used with 1st - 3rd grade students at the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Ojibwe School from 2004 - 2010 as part of the implementation of the federally funded Reading First program - the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy (DIBELS) and the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT). The purpose of this study was to determine if a student's score on the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency spring assessment correlated with reading progress as shown on the Reading First Stanford Achievement Test. Findings suggested that the use of DIBELS ORF for screening and identification of struggling readers, with the Reading First initiative's context of scientifically-based reading researched methods of instruction and intervention for the prevention and remediation of reading difficulties, has been supported.