ABSTRACT
This descriptive-developmental study analyzed Beginning of Year (BOY), Middle of Year (MOY), and End of Year (EOY) Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) results of 36 kindergarten learners at a rural public school in Montana, United States during School Year 2025–2026 to inform a proposed literacy intervention program. Existing assessment records were summarized using means, standard deviations, frequencies, percentages, and gain scores. Mean Letter Naming Fluency increased from 22.08 to 58.17, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency from 9.50 to 49.86, Nonsense Word Fluency–Correct Letter Sounds from 9.22 to 53.50, and Nonsense Word Fluency–Words Recoded Correctly from 0.75 to 15.00. The mean DIBELS Composite Score increased from 303.64 to 464.67. At EOY, 35 learners (97.22%) met or exceeded the overall composite benchmark, while one (2.78%) remained below benchmark. Despite overall growth, measure-specific results indicated continuing support needs, particularly in phonemic awareness and letter naming. The findings informed a proposed differentiated Kindergarten Literacy Intervention Program incorporating explicit foundational-skills instruction and progress monitoring. The program was not implemented or evaluated in this study; therefore, no claim about its effectiveness is made.
Keywords: DIBELS, kindergarten, early literacy, letter naming fluency, phoneme segmentation, nonsense word fluency, intervention
INTRODUCTION
Early literacy development is widely recognized as a critical foundation for children's academic success and lifelong learning. The acquisition of foundational literacy skills during the early years of schooling enables learners to develop the competencies necessary for reading comprehension, independent learning, and successful participation in classroom activities. These foundational skills include alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, and beginning decoding abilities. Foorman et al. (2016) emphasized the importance of systematic instruction in foundational reading skills, particularly phonological awareness, decoding, and the relationship between sounds and letters. Their findings suggest that early literacy development requires intentional instruction supported by evidence-based practices. Consequently, assessing and monitoring these competencies during kindergarten is essential for identifying learners who may experience reading difficulties and providing appropriate instructional support.
The importance of early literacy education extends beyond determining whether learners have acquired specific reading skills. Equally important is understanding how these competencies develop and improve throughout the academic year. Literacy acquisition is a developmental process in which learners demonstrate varying levels of performance and rates of improvement depending on their prior learning experiences, individual abilities, and instructional opportunities. Assessing literacy performance at only one point in time may provide limited information about learners' overall development. In contrast, repeated assessments allow educators to examine changes in performance, identify areas of improvement, and recognize skills that require additional instructional attention. Therefore, the systematic monitoring of literacy progress is an essential component of effective early childhood education because it provides information that can guide instructional planning and intervention development.
At the global level, foundational literacy remains a major educational concern. The World Bank et al. (2022), in The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update, reported that approximately 70% of children in low- and middle-income countries were estimated to be unable to read and understand a simple text by the age of ten. This finding highlights the continuing challenge of ensuring that children acquire essential reading competencies during their early years of education. The report emphasized the importance of prioritizing foundational learning, assessing students' learning levels, and implementing evidence-informed approaches to address literacy difficulties. These recommendations demonstrate that improving literacy outcomes requires not only access to education but also systematic efforts to understand learners' performance and respond to their educational needs. Although the report addresses learning poverty at a global level, its emphasis on foundational skills and assessment-informed instruction provides a relevant perspective for examining early literacy development within individual school settings.
In the United States, early literacy continues to be a significant educational priority. National reading assessment results have demonstrated that many elementary learners experience difficulties meeting expected reading proficiency levels. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2022) reported substantial concerns regarding reading achievement among fourth-grade learners, underscoring the need to strengthen foundational reading instruction during the preceding years of schooling. These concerns suggest that efforts to improve reading achievement should begin during kindergarten, when children are developing the essential skills that support later reading proficiency. Early identification of literacy difficulties, accompanied by appropriate instructional intervention, may help prevent learning gaps from becoming more pronounced as students advance through elementary education.
Research on evidence-based literacy instruction further supports the importance of identifying and monitoring foundational reading competencies. Foorman et al. (2016), through the Institute of Education Sciences, recommended explicit instruction in sound awareness, letter-sound relationships, decoding, and word recognition to support early reading development. These instructional recommendations are relevant to the assessment of kindergarten literacy skills because they identify specific competencies that contribute to beginning reading achievement. In particular, letter naming, phoneme segmentation, and the application of letter-sound relationships represent important dimensions of early literacy development. Monitoring these skills allows teachers to recognize learners who may require additional support and determine which areas should receive greater instructional emphasis. Thus, assessment and instruction should function as complementary processes in which evidence of student performance informs the selection of appropriate teaching strategies.
One widely used instrument for assessing foundational literacy development in the United States is the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). DIBELS consists of brief, standardized measures designed to assess early literacy competencies and identify learners who may be at risk for reading difficulties. The University of Oregon, Center on Teaching and Learning (2024), provides updated DIBELS 8th Edition assessment materials and resources that support the administration and interpretation of early literacy measures. These resources reflect the continued use of standardized assessments to evaluate foundational reading competencies and support educational decision-making. Through DIBELS, educators can obtain information about learners' literacy performance and use assessment results to identify instructional needs.
Among the DIBELS measures administered during kindergarten, Letter Naming Fluency (LNF), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF), and Nonsense Word Fluency–Correct Letter Sounds (NWF-CLS) provide important information about different aspects of foundational literacy development. Letter Naming Fluency assesses learners' ability to recognize and name printed letters, reflecting their familiarity with the alphabetic system. Phoneme Segmentation Fluency measures their ability to identify and segment individual sounds in spoken words, which is an essential component of phonemic awareness. Nonsense Word Fluency–Correct Letter Sounds assesses learners' ability to apply letter-sound knowledge when responding to unfamiliar letter combinations, providing information about their emerging alphabetic decoding skills. Although these measures assess distinct competencies, they collectively provide a useful picture of learners' developing foundational literacy abilities.
The usefulness of DIBELS is further strengthened by its administration during designated benchmark periods throughout the school year. Beginning of Year (BOY) assessments establish baseline information regarding learners' initial literacy performance. Middle of Year (MOY) assessments provide information about progress during the first part of the academic year, while End of Year (EOY) assessments reflect learners' performance toward the conclusion of kindergarten. Examining results across these three assessment periods allows educators to describe patterns of literacy growth, determine changes in performance, and identify competencies demonstrating limited improvement. Such an approach is particularly important because learners who demonstrate similar performance at the end of the school year may have experienced different developmental trajectories. Consequently, examining literacy progress over time provides additional information that may not be evident from a single assessment result.
The systematic examination of literacy progress is especially important in rural and small-school communities in the United States. Rural schools may encounter educational challenges related to geographic isolation, limited access to specialized instructional services, staffing constraints, and professional development opportunities. These circumstances can influence the availability of targeted literacy interventions and the resources needed to support learners experiencing reading difficulties. In such settings, the effective use of existing assessment information can be particularly valuable because it enables educators to identify instructional priorities based on documented learner performance. Rather than relying exclusively on general educational trends, school-level literacy analysis can provide information that directly reflects the learning needs of students within a particular educational environment.
Research conducted in rural educational settings has also highlighted the importance of assessment-informed reading instruction. Project READERS, an initiative associated with the Institute of Education Sciences-supported National Center for Research on Rural Education, examined approaches to improving reading instruction and intervention in rural schools. The project involved multiple rural schools and focused on strengthening teachers' use of assessment information and instructional practices to address reading difficulties. Such research demonstrates the relevance of data-informed literacy instruction within rural educational contexts. However, findings from large-scale investigations involving several schools may not fully explain the particular patterns of literacy development observed within an individual small rural school system. Therefore, localized investigations remain valuable for identifying school-specific learning needs and developing contextually appropriate instructional responses.
At the local level, a rural public school in Montana, United States administers DIBELS assessments to kindergarten learners during the Beginning of Year, Middle of Year, and End of Year benchmark periods. These assessments provide information regarding learners' foundational literacy performance throughout School Year 2025–2026. Specifically, the results for Letter Naming Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, and Nonsense Word Fluency–Correct Letter Sounds offer opportunities to examine the development of alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, and beginning decoding skills. Although the assessment results provide useful information regarding individual learner performance, systematically examining the results across the three benchmark periods can generate a more comprehensive understanding of literacy growth and identify areas requiring additional instructional support.
Despite the established importance of early literacy assessment, progress monitoring, and evidence-based reading instruction, a localized research gap remains concerning the systematic use of BOY, MOY, and EOY DIBELS results as the direct basis for developing a kindergarten literacy intervention program within a small rural school. Existing literature provides substantial evidence regarding effective foundational reading instruction and the value of early assessment. However, general instructional recommendations and large-scale assessment findings do not necessarily identify the specific literacy competencies in which learners at a rural public school in Montana, United States demonstrate the greatest improvement, the least progress, or continuing difficulty. Addressing this gap requires a school-level examination of literacy performance and growth patterns using the assessment information already available within the educational setting.
Furthermore, an important aspect of the research gap concerns the distinction between measuring literacy achievement and understanding literacy progress. Achievement data describe learners' performance at a particular assessment period, whereas growth analysis examines changes in performance across multiple assessment periods. Although both forms of information are valuable, relying solely on end-of-year performance may overlook differences in learners' developmental progress. For instance, some learners may demonstrate considerable improvement but remain below expected benchmark levels, while others may meet benchmark expectations despite showing relatively limited growth. Therefore, examining both performance and growth is necessary to develop a more accurate understanding of learners' literacy development and instructional needs.
Another dimension of the research gap involves the translation of assessment findings into educational intervention planning. The availability of standardized assessment results does not automatically lead to the development of targeted instructional programs. Assessment information must be systematically organized, analyzed, and interpreted to determine which competencies require intervention and which instructional strategies may be most appropriate. Without this process, schools may have difficulty establishing instructional priorities that reflect the actual learning needs of their students. Thus, there is a need to connect the analysis of literacy performance and growth with the development of a structured Kindergarten Literacy Intervention Program that responds to identified areas of difficulty.
This gap is particularly relevant to a rural public school in Montana, United States because the analysis of kindergarten literacy data can provide evidence directly applicable to the school's instructional context. By examining learners' performance across the three assessment periods, the study can determine their foundational literacy levels, describe growth trends, identify competencies with the least improvement, and establish the proportion of learners who remain at risk or below benchmark expectations at the end of the academic year. These findings can provide a basis for prioritizing instructional needs and designing targeted interventions that address specific areas of literacy development. Moreover, the proposed program may serve as a practical resource for teachers in planning differentiated instruction and supporting learners who require additional assistance.
Therefore, the present study, entitled Analysis of DIBELS Data as Basis for Developing a Kindergarten Literacy Intervention Program, sought to analyze the early literacy performance of kindergarten learners at a rural public school in Montana, United States during School Year 2025–2026. Specifically, it examined Letter Naming Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, and Nonsense Word Fluency–Correct Letter Sounds across the Beginning of Year, Middle of Year, and End of Year assessment periods. Through the systematic analysis of literacy performance, growth trends, areas of least improvement, and end-of-year benchmark classifications, the study aimed to provide an empirical basis for developing a context-specific Kindergarten Literacy Intervention Program. Ultimately, the study sought to contribute to evidence-informed instructional planning, the early identification of literacy difficulties, and the improvement of foundational reading support among kindergarten learners in a small rural educational setting.
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