| The purpose of this study was to examine the concurrent validity and diagnostic accuracy of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Curriculum based measurement (CBM) such as the DIBELS measures have been indicated as useful tools in response to intervention (RTI) approaches to the identification of learning disabilities. The DIBELS measure is currently being used in many states across the country as a screener for early reading problems. This research replicated a study completed by Hintze, Ryan, and Stoner (2003) that utilized Correlational analyses and a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve to investigate the concurrent validity and diagnostic accuracy of three DIBELS subtests used with kindergarten students. Consistent with the Hintze et al. (2003) study, this research found a strong relationship between the Initial Sound Fluency, Letter Naming Fluency, and Phoneme Segmentation Fluency subtests of the DIBELS and the Phonological Awareness Composite of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing. The concepts of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive power, and negative predictive power were analyzed using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curves. The data provided by the ROC analysis about the diagnostic accuracy of the DIBELS subtests using the CTOPP composite scales as criterion measures indicated alternate cut scores provided the best decisions with this population of students. Additionally, main effects were found for ethnicity on performance for the Initial Sound Fluency and Phoneme Segmentation Fluency subtests of the DIBELS. |
