| Poor early literacy skills can impact a child significantly, limiting school achievement and success throughout the life span. Difficulties are also associated with numerous social problems. Students exhibiting prereading skill deficits often fall even further behind their classmates in later elementary years (Cusumanzo, 2007; Deno, 1989; Goffreda, Diperna, & Pedersen, 2009; Hoffman, Jenkins, & Dunlap, 2009). The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 mandated statewide accountability for achieving adequate yearly progress in reading (No Child Left Behind Act; 2001). As a result, schools across the country are using progress monitoring tools and more frequently measuring students' progress in reading to ensure they are on target for achieving yearly reading goals. The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) (Kaminski & Good, 1996) is one popular assessment tool, used to identify and frequently monitor students having difficulties with skills determined to be important for acquiring reading. With the use of progress monitoring tools, such as DIBELS, schools should be able to identify the needs of all children and customize instruction to individual students, particularly those determined to be struggling with reading. This could lead to improved reading skills and, ultimately, higher statewide achievement test scores. This study examined the relationship between school districts in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, that do or do not use DIBELS and their results on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), a standardized statewide assessment of reading and mathematics. |
