Your child will encounter some type of entrance testing regardless of whether he or she is in public school or private school. This helps teachers know which small groups to place each child in. The high, medium, and low small groups are typically based on the child's test scores. It allows the teacher to pinpoint which areas your child might need help in.

The DIBELS Test also know as the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills is a common used assessment. It is actually used for students K-8th grade, and it usually given at the beginning-of-the-year (BOY), middle-of-the-year (MOY), and end-of-the-year (EOY). The DIBELS Test for kindergarten is broken down in 4 subtests.

1. Letter Naming Fluency-Your child will have to name as many of the printed letters as possible in 1 minute. Letters are mixed in order and are uppercase and lowercase.

2. Phoneme Segmentation Fluency-Your child will have to tell the tester all the sounds in a word. For example, what are the all the sounds you hear in the word “house”. The child should respond /h/, /ou/,/s/.

3. Nonsense Word Fluency-Your child will be shown CVC made-up words to read. This provides evidence that your child is actually decoding words and not just memorizing them. Ex. sej, cog, duz

4. Word Reading Fluency-Your child will need to read a list of common words given 1 minute

BONUS: Want our FREE DIBELS Study Guide with practice examples, so your child can get a head start? Click here!