How are the benchmark goals determined?
DIBELS are criterion-referenced because each measure has an empirically established goal (or benchmark) that changes across time to ensure students skills are developing in a manner predictive of continued progress. The goals/benchmarks were developed by following a large group of students in a longitudinal manner to see where students who were “readers” in later grades were performing on these critical early literacy skills when they were in Kindergarten and First grade so that we can make predictions about which students are progressing adequately and which students may need additional instructional support. You can see how the benchmark goals are used by going to our Technical Reports link from the Resources page, and downloading the following report: Good, R. H., Simmons, D. S., Kame’enui, E. J., Kaminski, R. A., & Wallin, J. (2002). Summary of decision rules for intensive, strategic, and benchmark instructional recommendations in kindergarten through third grade (Technical Report
