Is my child on track with his reading skills?
It is natural that parents and teachers want to measure student literacy. You may have heard your student’s teacher use the term “dibels” before. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and is pronounced, ironically, “dibbles.” (I say “ironically” because it is a reading assessment for grades K-8, and phonetically it should be pronounced “die-bles.”) You can find the testing materials that we use here.

How does it work?
The Academy wants to help teachers and parents see where students are struggling in their understanding of phonics, their reading fluency, and their reading comprehension. This has been especially important in our early founding years, during which we have sought not only to measure student progress but also to measure the effectiveness of our own reading instruction and curricula. Toward this end, trained teachers administer DIBELS three times a year: in the fall for all K-8 students, in the winter for only new students, and in the spring for all K-8 students again.
For K-3 grades, the tests are longer because the students’ different skills of reading do not yet work together as a fluid team. Kindergarten and first grade students identify letter names, listen to words and repeat them back by dividing them into individual phonemes, read nonsense words and real words, and read a short story. Second and third grade students only read nonsense words, real words, and the short story. Each of these skills is tested for one minute.
Fourth grade and onward read a short story for one minute. For more information, you can watch this video.
Why nonsense words?
The test assesses the student’s knowledge of whole words but also the makeup of the word—the phonemes within the word. This helps us to know if the student has a good understanding of phonics or if, instead, he has learned to read simply by memorizing the words, which would be a problem. A student with a robust knowledge of phonics will be able to read nonsense words better than the student who does not understand phonemes. At Cedar, we train our students in phonemic segmentation so that when they see the nonsense word “sep,” they can break it up into s-e-p, and they know that the One-Vowel rule says that if a word has one vowel, it usually says its short sound, so the word does not say “seep” because the e is a short vowel.
How do we score the tests?
For every word that a student says correctly, she receives one point. If she makes a mistake, no point is given; if she corrects her mistake, she receives that point back. We tally up the points and compare the total to the Benchmark Goals, and then record which level that student is at: at risk, some risk, minimal risk, negligible risk, or at grade level.
What if my child scores below grade level?
It is best to look at DIBELS with patience and as a long-term game. If your student scores below grade level, it does not mean that something is going wrong. Most kindergarteners will score far below grade level on their first DIBELS test in the fall, and those same kindergarteners will improve greatly over the course of just one year with good phonics instruction. Students who have come from other schooling backgrounds most likely have not had good phonics instruction, so they will also score below grade level but, with good training, they will improve greatly. Parents can do a lot to help their young children read well: read to your children as much as you can, read with your children and listen to them read out loud, and acquire as much phonics knowledge as you can so that you can help your child at home. Ask your child’s teacher what you can do to help your child with his reading, and sit in on a phonics class. Here are some excellent exercises to use with struggling students.
For older students, the best thing that they can do to improve their reading if they struggle with comprehension or fluency is to read more. The more they read, the better they will become at reading. They should read out loud (even if no one else is listening) and use their fingers to follow along the lines which helps them to stay focused and prevents the bad habit of backtracking and re-reading. Hard work pays off, and we have seen how phonics instruction, good training, and lots of practice can help a student improve immensely in reading.
Diagnosing dyslexia
It is common for parents to wonder if their struggling child has dyslexia. They might see their child struggle with literacy and think they have a serious problem. And sometimes they do. If a child has dyslexia, the DIBELS assessment can help us identify that. But just because a child is below her grade level, it does not mean that she has dyslexia. Many students just lack good habits, proper instruction and training, and sufficient practice. If teachers or parents diagnose dyslexia too early, it can discourage the student from continuing in normal habits like plain old reading. Just as getting a cavity should not stop us from brushing our teeth, neither should the fact that reading is difficult stop us from struggling through and continuing to read. Julian G. Elliott wrote a book called The Dyslexia Debate Revisited in which he questions the overdiagnosis of dyslexia and proposes the idea that of those who struggle to read, dyslexia is a smaller subgroup. Watch part one and two of a short interview with him in which he explains more.
Hope for the one who struggles with reading
The good news is that we have a sovereign God who knows all things, sees everything, and does all things well. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” He works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28-29). He is never working ill toward us who trust in Him. If you or your child struggles to read, trust in the Lord, thank Him for this challenge, and put in the effort, giving glory to Him all the way. His power is made perfect in our weaknesses. Therefore, let us boast all the more gladly in our weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. (2 Corinthians 12:9).
The Academy has seen students improve significantly in literacy after only one year of enrollment. Teachers and parents ought to have great hope for their students who are below their grade level at the start of the year because they often reach or surpass their level at the end of the year. Students can and do grow, and it makes a big difference when parents, students, and teachers are on the same team, working hard together.