Week 9 - DIBELS & QRI-5

About QRI-5:

QRI-5 is used as an informal assessment tool in a 1:1 setting. QRI-5 focuses on two key principles. The first is assessing how students identify words and what strategies the student employs. The second is identifying the reasons and background behind what causes a student to struggle with a word, and overall comprehension.

In order to do so, the QRI-5 contains words lists and passages. The word lists are not longer than 20 words each, and are used to both time reading speed and assess reading accuracy. The lists contain both low and high frequency words. 

The QRI-5 passages can be read out loud and quietly, and are used for a number of tasks. They can be applied to asses the student's comprehension in both oral and silent reading, as well as the student's skills with regard to in-context word identification strategies, listening level, retelling skills, look-back capabilities, think-alouds, questioning, and ability to read different text genres.

About DIBELS:

DIBLES focuses primarily on the main components, or "big ideas" of early reading. These big ideas are phonemic awareness, accuracy and fluency, vocabulary, alphabetic principle and comprehensions. DIBELS are a series of short assessments that measure the students in these areas. DIBELS is geared for young children who are just beginning to read. Additionally, DIBELS are aligned with common core standards, and are used to monitor student progress throughout the year. Ultimately, DIBELS should be used to screen students thrice yearly using the benchmark evaluation to determine whether or not additional intervention is needed, and whether the instruction is meeting success.

Comparison:

Differences - QRI-5 is geared for students K-12, whereas DIBELS ends at grade six. QRI-5 assesses students reading strategies, whereas DIBELS focuses on the "big ideas" instead. Additionally, DIBELS is meant to be used with all early readers, whereas QRI-5 is recommended for assessing individual students.

Similarities - Both DIBELS and QRI-5 are tools used by educators to identify student reading levels, plan interventions, and inform instruction. Both tools have been proven to be reliable, and while they differ in their structure and content, both are effective.