DIBELS 8th Edition comprises a developmental sequence of six subtests designed to assess

component skills in reading.

It is a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of a set of K-8 literacy skills,
such as phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.
As mentioned earlier, DIBELS is giving students a number of quick tests so that educators will have
the data to identify students who need additional assistance and to monitor the effectiveness of
intervention strategies.
The DIBELS comprise a developmental sequence of one-minute measures: naming the letters of the
alphabet (alphabetic principle), segmenting words into phonemes (phonemic awareness), reading
nonsense words (alphabetic principle), reading real words (orthographic knowledge), and oral
reading of a passage (accuracy and fluency). DIBELS also includes a three-minute reading
comprehension measure that uses the maze approach, which is a modification of the cloze
test approach that provides students with answer choices for missing words.
DIBELS scores are intended to only be used for instructional decision-making (i.e., to identify
students who need additional instructional support and monitoring response to intervention) and, as
such, should not be used to grade students.
Reading
What it is DIBELS Test Grades that take it
Component

Ability to hear and manipulate sounds in

Kindergarten
spoken words only. First Sound
(Beginning and middle of
This skill is a powerful predictor of future Fluency (FSF)
the year)
Phonemic reading success.  
Awareness  
It is a skill that is typically assessed early Phoneme
in a child’s schooling (i.e., kindergarten), Segmentation Middle and end of year in
Fluency (PSF) Kindergarten and
but it is also used with older children
Beginning of 2nd grade
who are experiencing difficulty reading.

Ability to learn the individual sounds in

spoken language and map those Middle and end of
sounds to specific written letters in the Nonsense Word Kindergarten; beginning,
Phonics English language. Students who have middle, and end of Grade
Fluency (NWF)
strong phonics skills are able to connect 1, and beginning of  Grade
individual sounds with letters and use 2
those sounds to read words.

Ability to read text accurately and DIBELS Oral Middle of 1st Grade;
Fluent and
automatically so that students can Reading Fluency Beginning, Middle and End
Accurate Reading
understand what they are reading. (DORF) of Year of 2nd - 5th Grade

Knowledge of the meanings of individual

Vocabulary     
words read

Ability to understand what he or she Grades 3 - 5 (beginning,

Comprehension reads. It is the ultimate goal of reading DAZE middle and end of each
instruction. grade)