Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Late Breaking News: Mr. Smartypants
We met with Phil's (former!) kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Swanson, late this afternoon to go over his academic achievement this past year. Phil was tested using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment system. (more info here)
Phil was tested in three main areas: Letter Naming Fluency (number of letters named in one minute), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (separating sounds in words: c/a/t), and Nonsense Words Fluency (sounding out nonsense words: zuf). Phil blew the doors off all the benchmarks.
Finding percentile info on the web is difficult. Using the table at the end of this PDF file, Phil would place in the following percentiles for each of the tests if he were an incoming First Grader (i.e., was tested in September): LNF: 92nd, PSF: 76th, NW: 86th. Using the percentiles at the end of the "here" link, above (i.e., if Phil had these scores in January): LNF: 97th, PSF: 87th, NWF: 96th. Split the difference: LNF: 94th, PSF: 81st, NWF: 91st. Not too shabby.
His report card also showed Phil's doing well in all areas. In Language Arts the only area he didn't score an "I(ndependent)" was "Writes to express own ideas," where he got a "D(eveloping)" (I'm still working on that, too). In Math he got I's everywhere except "working with measurement," "counting to 20 by 2's," "knows value of penny, nickel, dime," "tells time to the hour," and "works with graphs." He got D's in each of those (5 out of 21). In Social & Emotional Development, Artistic Development, and Motor Development he got all I's.
So we've got some work to do this summer, but he's in great shape going into First Grade.
Excellent job, Phil!
Phil was tested in three main areas: Letter Naming Fluency (number of letters named in one minute), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (separating sounds in words: c/a/t), and Nonsense Words Fluency (sounding out nonsense words: zuf). Phil blew the doors off all the benchmarks.
Finding percentile info on the web is difficult. Using the table at the end of this PDF file, Phil would place in the following percentiles for each of the tests if he were an incoming First Grader (i.e., was tested in September): LNF: 92nd, PSF: 76th, NW: 86th. Using the percentiles at the end of the "here" link, above (i.e., if Phil had these scores in January): LNF: 97th, PSF: 87th, NWF: 96th. Split the difference: LNF: 94th, PSF: 81st, NWF: 91st. Not too shabby.
His report card also showed Phil's doing well in all areas. In Language Arts the only area he didn't score an "I(ndependent)" was "Writes to express own ideas," where he got a "D(eveloping)" (I'm still working on that, too). In Math he got I's everywhere except "working with measurement," "counting to 20 by 2's," "knows value of penny, nickel, dime," "tells time to the hour," and "works with graphs." He got D's in each of those (5 out of 21). In Social & Emotional Development, Artistic Development, and Motor Development he got all I's.
So we've got some work to do this summer, but he's in great shape going into First Grade.
Excellent job, Phil!
Mikesell
