Deer Creek-Mackinaw Community Unit School District #701

Steve Yarnall, Superintendent Kathy Wurster, Secretary Pam Gardner, Bookkeeper

401 East Fifth Street, Mackinaw, IL 61755

Voice: 309-359-8965 Fax: 309-359-5291

Dee-Mack Primary & Junior High	Dee-Mack Intermediate School	Dee-Mack High School
Christina Lammers, Principal	Frank Reliford, Principal	Bill Lamb, Principal
102 East Fifth Street	506 North Logan Street	401 East Fifth Street
Mackinaw, IL 61755	Deer Creek, IL 61733	Mackinaw, IL 61755
Voice: 359-4321 Fax: 359-4015	Voice: 447-6226 Fax: 447-5201	Voice: 359-4421 Fax: 359-3125

For Immediate Release…

MACKINAW, IL

This is an exciting time to be involved in the field of early reading. We know more than ever about how students learn to read, and what happens when reading does not come easily. One of the most important changes in education this decade is the realization that early identification and intervention can prevent reading problems for many students.

Christina Brock-Lammers, Primary and Junior High Principal, and Meg Thurman, Psychologist/Coordinator are training teachers on the use of DIBELS. The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) is a set of standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy development. It is designed to be a short screening tool used to regularly monitor the development of pre-reading and early reading skills. This instrument effectively and efficiently measures how successfully a child is progressing in the critical skills that underlie success in early reading.

The DIBELS is an assessment system designed to assess students’ progress on the big ideas of early literacy development in a standardized, time efficient manner. At the primary and junior high in Mackinaw DIBELS has four purposes: 1. to screen for students “at risk” for reading difficulties in kindergarten through third grade; 2. to evaluate the efficacy of the early reading program in the district; 3. to diagnose problems areas and assist teachers in planning instruction; and, 4. to monitor student progress. The assessments administered in the fall, winter, and spring are called “Benchmark Assessment Screenings.” The Benchmark Screening is given to all K-3 students to determine whether they are at risk for reading difficulty. Students who do not achieve these benchmark scores are placed in intervention groups after confirming the need for intervention through teacher observation and other data.

The measure was developed upon the essential early literacy domains discussed in both the National Reading Panel (2000) and National Research Council (1998) reports to assess student development of phonological awareness, alphabetic understanding, and reading fluency. This assessment has been thoroughly researched and demonstrated to be a reliable and valid indicator of early literacy development and predictive of later reading proficiency. With early intervention, research has shown many students will avoid the major problems they would have faced if the reading difficulty had been dealt with much later.

We believe that all but a very few children can be taught to read proficiently. Prevention of reading difficulties in kindergarten through third grade is proven one of the most effective strategies to tackle reading delays.

Mrs. Lammers and Mrs. Thurman are preparing a request for proposal to present the program at the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB), Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA), and Illinois Association of School Business Officials (IASBO) School Board Convention in Chicago this November.