Our district’s end-of-year DIBELS Next testing window opened this past week and I jumped right in. It may sound counterintuitive to test my students at the beginning of the testing window instead of three weeks later, but I have found that my students are always at their peak in April. Though I don’t make a big deal of the school year ending, the students somehow sense it and their enthusiasm and work quality definitely wane during the month of May.
I am sharing my end-of-year DIBELS test scores with you because I want you to know that I do get good results. I reiterate that I want you to feel confident in my abilities, that I’m a blogger to whom you might want to subscribe (or continue subscribing). My testing data is how I know that my phonics scope and sequence and my daily phonics instruction is working; it’s how I know that the changes I’ve made to my small group instruction really pay off; it’s proof that my immediate and targeted interventions with my “red” students work; and, it suggests that the CVC review and nudge toward whole word reading (WWR) that I do in April is hugely beneficial.
This spring, 2023, I get to tell you that I now have three consecutive years of excellent test scores after making some changes based on the Science of Reading (SoR). Three years’ data is enough proof, for me, that I have established a formula for success in teaching early literacy skills to kindergarten students.
Before sharing the end-of-year scores, I want to tell you about my students in August. It was a typical bunch in that a few knew many letter names and a few sounds; a few knew some letter names and no sounds; and, many knew very few letter names and no letter sounds. I teach at a Title I school and it’s common for students to arrive with no exposure to letters, writing their name, or counting. Parents tend to trust that we will teach them everything. In August, I had 16 “red” students (defined as likely to need intensive support) and five “yellow” students (defined as need extra support). Twenty-one of my 28, or a whopping 75%, were below level when they entered, with 57% (the “red” ones) well below level. This was a slightly bigger and more needier class, but not too far off from the typical bunch I usually receive.
I got used to a lot of absences—and long stretches of absences—the past two post-Covid years. I thought I would see some improvement with that this year, but no. I had about 25% of my class who missed a lot of school, probably 30 or more days total.
My end-of-year (EOY) test scores show that all 27 students in my class are at- or above-level. Four students are “green” (at level) and 23 are “blue” (above level). The goal is a composite score of 122. My students ranged from 124 to 287.
The first subtest measures Letter Naming Fluency (LNF). While naming letters has nothing to do with the act of reading, research shows that the ability to quickly name letters is an excellent predictor of later reading success. There is no specific goal for this subtest, however you can see that the range of letters named in one minute was 37 to 79 (second column).
The next subtest is Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF). We work on this so much in the fall that most students have this mastered for their middle-of-the-year (MOY) testing. Because we don’t practice it as much after Winter Break, I intentionally revisit it and have the students practice it before their EOY testing. The goal is to say at least 40 phonemes in one minute. My class’s scores ranged from 48 to 80 (third column).
The third and final subtest measures two skills. Students read CVC nonsense words (NWF), either by saying each sound individually, trying to blend the sounds, or reading the words as a whole (WWR). They get a point for each correct letter sound (CLS) they say and the goal is 28 in one minute. The scores on this ranged from 22 to 142 (fourth column).
The nonsense word fluency (NWF) subtest also tells you how many words were read as a whole. Words read as a whole count as three phonemes. Whole word reading can speed things up and improve a score for those who are proficient at it but also really slow down and lessen a score for those who are attempting it but not quite ready. I spend a lot of intervention time during April working with all students, trying to determine who is ready to be nudged into whole word reading and who might be hindered by this pressure. The goal for whole word reading is 13 by the end of first grade. The range for my kindergartners was 0-49, with 12 students already meeting the first grade goal (far right column).
As my knowledge of the Science of Reading grows, so do my results.
End-of-year (EOY) DIBELS Next composite scores mean 2021 —> 166.19
End-of-year (EOY) DIBELS Next composite scores mean 2022 —> 174.17
End-of-year (EOY) DIBELS Next composite scores mean 2023 —> 179.81
A strength of mine is backwards planning. If students are expected to do something by the end of the year, I can figure out all the small steps and subskills necessary to meet that goal. I create a lot of the materials I need to get them there. Another strength is determining exact weaknesses and designing lessons and interventions to address those weaknesses. You can easily piggyback on what I do—as I’m sure our students share the same struggles—or you can ask for my assistance with situations that are unique to your classroom or your students.
I put this chart together for parents. The explanation of the subtests helps them better understand what it is their child should be able to do and whether or not they’ve mastered that. It lets them see their child’s composite score and how it relates to other students in the class. They can see how their child performed on each subtest and, again, compare it with the other students. Most important, they can see that the programming and instruction their child received was of high quality, high enough to get all students to where they need to be.
When I look back on the beginning-of-the-year intervention videos, I am working with students who not only know no letter names but are also struggling to learn just one letter name, the letter their name begins with. It often takes weeks of daily one-on-one time for some students to pick up even just a couple of letter names. It seems as if these students most likely have a disability. But I keep at it and I remember that kindergarten is all about preventing disabilities. The disabilities are there, but with the right instruction, we can keep them from fully developing or from ever surfacing at all.
While the EOY scores do not surprise me—I work with these students every day and know exactly what they can and cannot do—I am relieved that they did work hard and perform well during the testing. Also, I know the limits of what DIBELS Next measures and I know that, while every student of mine is at- or above-level on these skills, there are areas of weakness that hold some back now and will continue to do so in first grade.
Please feel free to share this post and encourage others to subscribe to Busy Bee Kindergarten. As always, thank you for your support!
You’re right, it’s all about the meshing! So many good ideas and techniques out there. We have to figure out which ones are the very best and how much time to devote to each.
I look forward to this blog post from you every year! Amazing results! You and your students should be proud! We started CKLA this year, and I have loved it. But now that I have a year of the new program under my belt, I can’t wait to mesh your proven strategies and activities with CKLA. Thank you for sharing your classroom with us!