Hi Amy, DIBELS is an assessment that you can download online for free. It is normally approx. $1.00 per student. Numerous schools in MA use DIBELS, however, as I'm sure you know, the IRA has come out against DIBELS. It is a one minute test that essentally tests for speed e.g. one minute, rather than what is known. I don't have any problems with using the DIBELS assessment as long as the stopwatch is taken out of the picture. Stopping a test at one minute doesn't give a clear picture as to what the student knows or doesn't know. It only shows how fast they are at recognizing some letters, so that a slower processor who is able to recognize all letters, phonemes and blends will not score well. I, for one, do not work well under timed conditions and there are others out there just like me.
Clay is a great assessment, but you really need a triangulation of data to get a true picture of the student. Have you tried the Yopp Singer Test of Phoneme Seg.? Fountas & Pinnell have a new assessment out that looks good too. I think that runs about $250.00 per kit. Kathy ________________________________ From: Amy Lesemann <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, April 12, 2010 3:08:49 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] need evaluative tool for kindergartners and first graders Hello - I am a reading specialist who needs to assess students entering our kindergarten and first grade. I have used Clay's Observation Survey. Any other suggestions out there? Opinions on DIBELS? Can you use it for entering kindergartners? How expensive is DIBELS? Thanks - Amy -- Amy Lesemann, Reading Specialist and Director, Independent Learning Center St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary School _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
