Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is trying to increase scores on the DIBELS exam, a standardized test that measures early literacy skills for students in kindergarten through third grade. One school is trying out a new strategy: teaching families how they can help prepare their children.
On Tuesday, Hidden Valley Elementary School kindergarten teacher Lomami Anthony stood before a classroom filled with students and their families, alongside a translator who repeated everything she said in Spanish.
“I want you guys to tell me the sounds in the word ‘sun,’” she tells the group.
Together, they sound it out.
“Sss, uhh, nnn.”
She continues to read off words, and together they break each word apart into its individual sounds. It’s a literacy skill called “segmentation.” It’s one of several exercises that families learned at Hidden Valley Tuesday night.
Segmentation is also one of several skills that are tested on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills assessment — or DIBELS. It’s a national test that all North Carolina students in grades K-3 take three times a year. And it’s a big focus for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools: Improving DIBELS scores is one of the CMS school board’s four goals it has set for the district.
But it’s an even bigger focus here at Hidden Valley, a Title I school designated as low-performing by the state. Two-thirds of students here are Hispanic, and many are English Language Learners. The school has set an internal goal of almost doubling the percentage of students meeting the passing DIBELS benchmark, from around 37% to 70%.
“Specifically at Hidden Valley, we are on a mission to turn our school around and improve academic outcomes for kids,” said Erin Barksdale Coles, principal at Hidden Valley, who took over last year.
She says school turnaround can benefit from empowering families to get engaged. That’s why she leveraged the school’s Title I funds to set up this “DIBELS night” for families.
“And so there's an opportunity to say, let's bring our families inside of our building, tell them what DIBELS is,” Barksdale Coles said. “No one really knows what DIBELS means. Look at where their kid is from beginning of the year to middle of the year. Here's your goal for the end of year. And then this is how you can practice.”
DIBELS can be confusing, since it’s not just reading passages or writing sentences. On Tuesday, parents got packets with exercises they could practice with their children, as well as hourglasses so students could do timed drills. Families got to take the materials home so they could practice with their students on their own.
On Tuesday, parents drilled their kids on letter recognition, reading out loud as many letters as they can in a minute. And another skill called “nonsense word fluency,” where students have to sound out small words that have no meaning. That’s meant to help them understand the letters and how the sounds they make interact with each other.
Setting ambitious goals
In June 2023, 67% of K-2 students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools met DIBELS benchmarks. The goal is to increase that to 91% by June 2029. The district has improved in each of the last two school years, but has fallen just short of its annual targets to stay on pace toward that goal. Last year, 72% of students finished the year at benchmark, compared with a target of 75%.
But CMS has said at school board meetings that it’s improved its progress monitoring this year. Barksdale Coles agreed, pointing to new, easy-to-use data tools that help teachers track student data so teachers can target struggling students. She said the modeling shows Hidden Valley is making progress toward its goals.
“We're looking at every grade level,” she said. “We're seeing we need 20 more kids in the 2nd grade and 1st grade to meet our annual target. But it doesn't just stop there. Then we have a platform that we can see who those kids are, what supports we can give them.”
At Tuesday’s DIBELS night, Ann Black worked with her grandson, kindergartener Jace Harris. Black says she used to work in the school system, and when she heard about “DIBELS,” it jogged her memory.
“When they said DIBELS, I said ‘let me come back,’ and just kind of see what’s going on and how different things may be, or maybe everything’s still the same,” Black said. “So I’m glad I came tonight.”
She was happy to see Jace’s progress.
“He’s doing well,” she said. “He loves school. He loves school.”
Students have already taken their beginning-of-year and middle-of-year DIBELS tests. All that’s left now is the end-of-year exam. That’s the one that will determine whether CMS — and Hidden Valley — can reach their goals.
