Using DIBELS to improve reading outcomes

Students' reading trajectories (i.e., their general pattern of reading progress) are established early and are relatively stable over time. For example, students who are poor readers in first grade are likely (i.e., 88%) to be poor readers in fourth-grade. Prevention is key to improving reading outcomes and involves identifying children who are at-risk for reading failure early (i.e., kindergarten and first-grade) and providing systematic instruction on skills needed for reading success. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) were designed to help educators in the early identification of students most at-risk for reading failure. Once students are identified, DIBELS can be used to monitor progress of interventions that are implemented. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the DIBELS measures and describe how they can be used for screening and progress monitoring to improve reading outcomes.