DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency: Not All Passages Are Created Equal
Administering a Universal Screener to all students in your classroom to identify progress (or holes and gaps) in foundational reading skills is essential. My school has used the DIBELS Universal Screener since it was first released in the early 2000s. We have implemented each updated version from DIBELS Next in 2010 to the DIBELS 8th Edition in 2018.
One of the assessments given, beginning in 1st grade, is Oral Reading Fluency. Students read a grade level passage for one minute. The words read per minute (wpm) determine if the student is reading fluently, with automaticity, to support comprehension.
For the first two versions of DIBELS, students read 3 different passages, in one sitting, for one minute each. The wpm for each of these passages could vary - by a lot. Teachers were directed to select the MIDDLE score as the student’s benchmark.
EXAMPLE:
THIRD GRADE - MOY BENCHMARK 105 wpm
SAMPLE STUDENT RESULTS:
MOY Benchmark Passage #1 - 102 wpm
MOY Benchmark Passage #2 - 115 wpm
MOY Benchmark Passage #3 - 96 wpm
SAMPLE STUDENT Recorded Score: 102 wpm
The administration of all 3 reading passages, while only 1 minute each, can be time consuming especially when you have a class of 30+ students.
The most recent DIBELS 8th Edition requires the administration of only ONE Oral Reading Fluency passage. This cuts down on the time needed to assess all students BUT is a less reliable indicator of a student’s reading ability.
The teachers at my school have noticed that there were large variances between BOY (Beginning of the Year), MOY (Middle of the Year) and EOY (End of the Year) passages.
In addition, the progress monitoring passages often show inconsistent progress.
Below is an example from a current 3rd grade student. She read 79 wpm on the MOY assessment - well below grade level. On 3 subsequent progress monitoring passages, within 3 months, she read 92 wpm, 136 wpm, and 111 wpm. All of these are much better than her MOY score of 79 considering the end of year Benchmark is 114 wpm.
PROGRESS MONITORING: DIBELS ORF
Why was this student’s MOY score so low and her progress monitoring so high?
Why is there such a large variance, of up to 44 words, between the three PM passages?
Did she become an above grade level reader in just a few weeks?
Was she having a bad day, then a decent day, then a really good day, then another decent day?
Many factors can contribute to a student’s wpm scores, but the ultimate answer is that the reading level of each passage is inconsistent.
If you contact DIBELS, now Amplify, they will say that the passages have been vetted and nationally normed through large research samples, etc. There will be variances in reading based on complexity of sentence structure, interest in the topic, and background knowledge. OK. I get that. But the data patterns for entire grade levels of students don’t lie.
Let’s look at a sample of 4th grade scores…
What do you notice?
For each of these students, their middle of the year ORF score is much higher than their beginning of the year score and for all but one, their end of the year score drops.
Why is this?
Because the middle of the year passage is much easier than the beginning and end of year passages.
DIBELS: Creating a Readability Study
This inspired me to complete a year-long readability study. During the 21-22 school year, I had groups of students in grades 3-5 read DIBELS passages to me. I recorded their scores and noted patterns in readability.
I compared the reading level of each benchmark passage and progress monitoring passage. Each passage was compared to the Beginning of Year passage for the grade level. I then noted if the passage was easier, harder, or equal to the complexity of the BOY passage.
See an example below for 4th grade:
Full details of the study, how it was conducted, and the calculation of my results is included in the FREE DOWNLOADS below!
The results of my study conducted on students from my school can in no way mimic the 1000’s of students involved in the studies done by DIBELS/Amplify. BUT it does show clear patterns in passage readability that have continued to prove true with each school year.
To ensure that the assessment is valid, we are required to give the designated Benchmark passages for BOY, MOY, and EOY. There is nothing that says we must give the progress monitoring passages in any particular order. At my school we select the passages that best align to the BOY and EOY passages to give us the best indicators for growth.
Use the results of my readability study as a guide to select the progress monitoring passages that will accurately reflect the progress being made by your students!
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