DIAGNOSING READING
PROBLEMS: WHAT DO YOUR
STUDENTS NEED?
For Kindergarten and 1st Grade
TRAINING OVERVIEW
RTI model of reading
 Taking DIBELS to the next level (using DIBELS
as diagnostic tool)


Error analysis for PSF, NWF, and ORF
Grouping students for instructional decisions
 Next steps

LEARNING TARGETS
I say say what RTI means.
 I can use Dibels to find students that need extra
instruction.
 I know what my next steps are for administering
an intervention model in my classroom or
building.

RTI MODEL
RTI
RTI is not a program, it’s a
philosophy/tool/framework
 RTI stands for Response To Intervention
(sometimes Response to Instruction)
 In the past, we’ve had a “wait to fail” model. RTI
is Preventative Model

RTI CORE PRINCIPLES
Use all available resources to teach all students –
minimize silos
 Universal screening for prevention instead of
waiting for intervention
 Multi-tier model of service delivery
 Explicit & systematic instruction
 Data based decisions using a problem solving or
standard protocol approach
 Monitor student progress frequently
 Multiple assessment measures
 Monitoring implementation fidelity

3 TIERED MODEL
Tier 3:
Students
who need
intensive or
individualized support.
5%
Tier 2:
Students who do not make
progress in Tier 1 are provided
with more intensive interventions
15%
Tier 1:
All students receive high quality
instruction as well as regular progress
monitoring
80%
3 TIERED MODEL
Tier 3:
Tier 2:
Tier 1:
District Adopted Curriculum (Read Well or Reading Street)
90 minutes at Instructional Level
Scientifically Based Practices
Data Driven Decision Making (Progress Monitoring)
Differentiated Instruction
3 TIERED MODEL
Tier 3:
Tier 2:
Pull aside
Added practice outside the 90 minutes
20-30 minute additional instruction
Data Driven Decision Making (progress monitoring)
Scientifically based practices
District Adopted Intervention Materials
Use data to make decisions
Tier 1:
3 TIERED MODEL
Tier 3:
Replacement “Core”
Scientifically based practices
Data Driven Decision Making
(progress monitoring)
Tier 2:
Tier 1:
RTI
In an RTI/Intervention model, students do not
stay in intervention groups forever. Every 4-6
weeks, use assessment to re-group.
 Kids receive the services they need.
 The nature of the intervention changes at each
tier, becoming more rigorous as the student
moves through the tiers
 Students move up and down the tiers depending
on need

WHY WE’RE REALLY DOING THIS
Students speak to us
through their data. It is
up to us to hear what they
are telling us and do
something about it!
USING DIBELS TO HELP
DETERMINE STUDENT NEEDS
WHAT ARE THE SUBTESTS?
Dibels Indicators
5 Essential Components
Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)
Tied to Alphabetic Principle
Initial Sound Fluency (ISF)
Phonemic Awareness
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
(PSF)
Phonemic Awareness
Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)
Phonics
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
Fluency
Retell Fluency
Comprehension**
WHAT DO THE SCORES MEAN?
Reading fluently with comprehension is the
ultimate goal.
 DIBELS uses early skills (LNF, PSF, NWF, ORF)
to predict how likely it is a child will be a strong
reader later.
 Students must achieve or exceed goals on time to
be on track for successful reading.

WHAT DO THE SCORES MEAN?


When you see a DIBELS report, you will see a
raw score for each student as well as:
Intensive
At Risk
Deficit
Strategic
Some Risk
Emerging
Benchmark
Low Risk
Established
A child’s score will determine if they are
Intensive, Strategic, or Benchmark.
DIBELS MARKINGS IN TACOMA
DIBELS Scoring Cheat Sheet
Timing
Hesitation
Prompt
Discontinue
Scoring Tips*
Letter Naming
Fluency (LNF)
Start timing after
saying “Begin”
and stop at 1
minute. (])
After 3 seconds,
provide the correct
letter name and point
to the next letter and
say, “What letter?”
(prompt may be
repeated)
“Remember to tell
me the letter name
and not the sound.”
(One time only)
No letters correct
in the first row
(10 letters).
Draw a line through a
skipped row and do not
count in scoring.
Initial Sound
Fluency (ISF)
Start timing after
question and stop
when student
responds.
After 5 seconds,
“Remember to tell
score as 0 and present me the picture that
next question.
begins with the
sound ___.”
Score of 0 on first
5 questions.
Record number of
seconds and calculate the
fluency score.
Phoneme
Segmentation
Fluency
Start timing when After 3 seconds,
first word is
provide next word.
presented and stop
at 1 minute. (])
(PSF)
Nonsense Word
Fluency (NWF)
Start timing after
saying “Begin”
and stop at 1
minute. (])
After 3 seconds, score the sound/word as
incorrect and provide the correct
sound/word. If necessary, point to the next
sound/word, and say, “What sound/word?”*
Depends on whether student is reading
“sound by sound” or “word by word”.
DIBELS Oral Start timing after After 3 seconds,
provide the next
Reading Fluency student says first
word and stop at 1 word.
(DORF)
minute. (])
“Remember to tell
me the sounds in
the word.”
Marking
t L s u
0
1
No correct sound If student repeats the
/t/ /r/ /i/ /k/ 4/4
segments in first 5 entire word with no
/k/ /a/ /t/ 2/3
words.
segmentation, circle the
word and do not give any /t/ /r/ /i/ /k/ 0/3
points.
No correct sounds
in first 5 words.
No words read
correct in first
row.
Draw a line through a
skipped row and do not
count in scoring.
Three passages
administered and median
(middle) score recorded.
tob
3/3
tob
3/3
tob
2/3
It was a live fish. 4/5
tt
It was a live fish. 4/5
THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCURACY IN OLDER
GRADES
Accuracy is a piece/ one aspect used to determine
instructional decisions.
 Why do we look at accuracy? Research and
examples

DIBELS ORF scores at the end of 1st grade.
(Benchmark is 40 wcpm.)
 Billy reads 35 wcpm with no errors.
 Sally reads 52 wcpm with 8 errors.
 Which student is more likely to have strong
comprehension? Which student is more likely to have
decoding issues?

WHO NEEDS HELP IN LNF?

Looking at the class list report.
LETTER NAMING FLUENCY: DIAGNOSIS
Our Turn
 Your Turn


Where are the greatest areas of need for this
student?
WHO NEEDS MORE HELP IN PSF?

Looking at the class list report.
PHONEME SEGMENTATION: DIAGNOSIS
DIBELS Phoneme Segmentation – Error Analysis
(1st Grade – Fall, Winter, Spring
STUDENT NAME
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Testing Period F W S
KINDER – Winter, Spring)
VOWEL
sound error
INITIAL
sound error
ENDING sound
error
BLENDS
Other error patterns
PHONEME SEGMENTATION: DIAGNOSIS
Our Turn
 Your Turn


Where are the greatest areas of need for this
student?
WHO NEEDS MORE HELP IN NWF?

Looking at the class list report.
NONSENSE WORD FLUENCY: DIAGNOSIS
DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency – Error Analysis
(1st Grade - Fall, Winter, Spring KINDER - Winter, Spring
STUDENT NAME
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
VOWEL
sound error
2nd Grade – Fall)
INITIAL
sound error
ENDING sound
error
Testing Period F W S
REVERSALS
Other error patterns
# read as
words
NONSENSE WORD FLUENCY: DIAGNOSIS
Our Turn
 Your Turn


Where are the greatest areas of need for this
student?
USING READ WELL ASSESSMENT
TO DETERMINE STUDENT NEED
WHO NEEDS HELP IN READ WELL?

Determine which students are not passing their
assessments.
DIAGNOSING ORF ISSUES
Diagnosing Fluency Issues Using DIBELS
ORF
St udent Nam e:_____ ____ ____ ___ F W S St udent Grade Level:___ ___
Accuracy Rate
Median (Middle) score ______________
Median score’s accuracy _________
*Accuracy = words read correctly/total words read
Mult isyllabic?
Ending
Sound
Error?
Middle
Sound
Error?
Init ial
Sound
Error?
Error
Ef f ect
Meaning?
Passage Word
High
Word as Read
Assess. #
Frequenc
y Word?
Chart ing Errors: Not e t he assessm ent # w her e t he st udent m isr ead a w or d. Wr it e t he w or d “as r ead” and
t he cor r ect passage w or d. Place an “x ” in each block t hat applies t o t he err or .
Tot als:
Developed by Mart ha Teigen f or WA Reading First , Oct ober 2005 (adapt ed f rom work of Haggar, Dimino, Windmueller,
Project Plus)
Adapt ed by Kelly Pruit t , Tacoma School Dist rict
ORF: DIAGNOSIS
Our Turn
 Your Turn


Where are the greatest areas of need for this
student?
GROUPING STUDENTS BASED ON
NEED
RATE AND ACCURACY
If a student has been placed in the At Risk
category for LNF, but has named all letters
correctly, should they be placed in the same
group as a child who has named all letters on the
page, but only scored 3 correct?
 If a child scores 23 (benchmark is 24) on NWF in
1st grade and made no mistakes, should she be
placed in the same group as a child who is
emerging, but scored 14 with 60% accuracy?
 Consider both rate and accuracy when
determining groups and recommendations

GROUPING STUDENTS USING DIBEL’S
SCORES: MODIFIED PILE PROTOCOL
Look at the class list report we’ve been working
with:
1. Highlight/Identify students who are some risk
or at risk for Letter Naming Fluency.

2.
Highlight/Identify students who scored deficit or
emerging for PSF.

3.
Error analysis for LNF
Error analysis for PSF
Highlight/Identify students, who were not
identified in the LNF or PSF group, who scored
deficit or emerging for NWF.

Error analysis for NWF
GROUPING CONSIDERATIONS FOR TIER 2
IN PRIMARY GRADES
The best instruction is 1st instruction.
 Intervention CAN happen in the 90 minutes.
 LNF difficulties can be addressed in the whole
group reading instruction.
 Small pull asides or quick interventions with
groups of students can occur in the 90 minute
block.

GROUP SHARING
Get into a mixed group
 In your group discuss the following questions
(post answers and be ready to share):
1. How do you incorporate intervention into your
initial (1st tier) instruction now?
2. If you use walk to read at your building, share
how it works with the group.
3. If you don’t walk to read, how do you address
differing student needs?

HOW TO GROUP STUDENTS AND DETERMINE
INSTRUCTIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
INTERVENTIONS?


Look at what the data tells us about similarities
and difficulties to form groups and develop
instructional recommendations
Form groups based on needs of students and staff
resources
FORMING GROUPS: A SCENARIO

Mythical School’s 1st grade team wants to start
an intervention group. They have 2 classroom
teachers ready to start. Ms. Sally’s class has 8
students who need short vowel decoding work
(based on the Dibels Error Analysis). Mr. Jones’
class has 7 students who need help with PSF and
sight words. They decide to spend 25 minutes
before lunch every day “walking to intervention”.
Mr. Jones takes the 15 students who need
decoding and PSF help and forms a small group.
Ms. Sally takes her remaining students and Mr.
Jones’ students and works on deeper
comprehension and vocabulary skills using the
Read Well lessons she never gets to.
FORMING GROUPS: A SCENARIO

Storybook School’s Kindergarten team consists of one
classroom teacher, Ms. Blue. Ms. Blue’s class has 15
students who need help with their letters (based on
Dibels), 5 students who need work on Phoneme
Segmentation and the rest of her students are at
benchmark. Ms. Blue asks one of her student’s
grandma (who is a retired school bus driver) to come
into class for 20 minutes every day. Grandma Green
takes the 5 students who need PSF work and plays
phonemic awareness games with them in the back of
the room. Ms. Blue decides since so many of her
students need letter naming work, she is going to
incorporate a letter naming template into her 90
minute instruction. She wants to make sure she
makes it to all the letters by January.
GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING


Gather with your grade level team from your
building.
Discuss the following:
What human-resources are available at your building to
provide interventions? (Think of all of them: parents,
volunteers, high school older brothers, grandparents,
community members, lunch ladies, office staff with a “free”
20 minutes a day)
 What small bits of time do you have as a team if you
wanted to “walk to intervention”? What small bits of time
do you have if you need to do intervention on your own?
 What are some possible scenarios you can develop for your
team?
 What needs to happen next at _________ in order for you to
implement an RTI model that includes systematic Tier 2
instruction?

INTERVENTION NEXT STEPS
NOW THAT YOU HAVE SOME KNOWLEDGE,
USE IT!
Look at student’s scores and DIBELs booklets
 Use diagnostic tools for those who need it.
 Determine which areas your students need the
most assistance.

Vocabulary
Makiing Meaning
Strategies
ELI Strategies and
Reading Street
ELI Strategies
Reading Street Vocab Book
Fluency
Making Meaning strategies
Skill Builders
ELI Strategies and
Reading Street
Phonics
6 minute solution
Templates
Phonics for Reading
ELI Strategies and
Reading Street
Syllaboards
Phonemic
Awareness
SIPPS
Road to the Code
Templates
ELI Strategies
Road to the Code
Phonemic Awareness in
young Children
SIPPS Beginning
Template
Reading Intervention Materials Training Matrix
All Staff:
Diagnosing and identifying Reading Problems
Using the Diagnostic Tool/I've Dibeled Now What?
Comprehension
A FINAL THOUGHT…
“You can have the results you say you want, or you
can have the reasons why you can’t have them.
But you can’t have both. Reasons or results. You
get to choose.”
-Susan Scott
Fierce Conversations
EXIT SLIP

Please Reflect on the learning targets for tonight:
I say what RTI means.
 I can use Dibels to find students that need extra
instruction.
 I know what my next steps are for administering an
intervention model in my classroom or building.
