Beth Smith, M. Ed. | #smithingifted

Every year, students complete reading assessments designed to help schools identify who may need additional support. One of the most commonly used tools is DIBELS—Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.

DIBELS can provide valuable information about foundational reading skills. But when we look at the results of gifted students, there is something very important educators need to remember:

A high DIBELS score does not tell us how far a gifted reader can actually go.

And sometimes, a score that looks merely “on grade level” does not tell the whole story either.

What Does DIBELS Measure?

DIBELS is primarily a universal screening and progress-monitoring tool. Depending on the grade level and assessment used, students may be evaluated in areas such as:

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics and decoding
• Word reading
• Oral reading fluency
• Reading accuracy
• Vocabulary
• Reading comprehension

These skills matter. DIBELS can help teachers determine whether students have developed important foundational literacy skills and whether additional intervention may be necessary.

However, DIBELS was not created to measure giftedness.

It also was not designed to answer questions such as:

• How advanced is this student’s reading comprehension?
• Can the student analyze literature several years above grade level?
• Can the student recognize symbolism, theme, bias, or author perspective?
• Can the student synthesize information from multiple complex sources?
• Does the student need advanced curriculum?

Those are very different questions.

The Ceiling Problem

Gifted students can quickly reach what educators sometimes call an assessment ceiling.

Imagine giving a fifth grader a test that only measures fifth-grade skills.

If the student answers almost everything correctly, the assessment tells us:

The student has mastered fifth-grade skills.

It does not tell us whether that student is actually reading at a sixth-, eighth-, or even higher level.

That distinction is incredibly important.

A score at or above benchmark may be interpreted as:

“This student is doing fine.”

For a gifted student, however, the better question may be:

“Is this assessment challenging enough to show us what this student actually knows?”

Meeting the benchmark and reaching one’s instructional potential are not the same thing.

Gifted Students Can Also Have Unexpected DIBELS Results

There is another side of this conversation.

Not every gifted student will earn exceptionally high DIBELS scores.

Giftedness does not mean a child will perform perfectly on every standardized assessment.

A gifted student may:

• Read extremely quickly and make careless errors.
• Become disengaged during repetitive testing.
• Understand sophisticated ideas while having weaker decoding or fluency skills.
• Have an advanced vocabulary but struggle with timed tasks.
• Rush because the material feels easy.
• Overthink seemingly simple questions.
• Have a learning disability in addition to being gifted.

This last possibility is especially important.

Some students are twice-exceptional (2e)—both gifted and identified with, or showing characteristics of, a disability.

A student may demonstrate advanced reasoning, creativity, mathematical thinking, or verbal ability while simultaneously struggling with reading fluency, dyslexia, written expression, attention, or another area.

A single DIBELS score should never erase the rest of what we know about that child.

Look for Patterns, Not Just Numbers

When reviewing DIBELS data for gifted students, I like to think of the assessment as one clue in a much larger investigation.

Instead of asking only:

“Did the student meet benchmark?”

Consider asking:

What does the complete pattern tell us?

For example, imagine a gifted student who demonstrates outstanding comprehension during classroom discussions but has an average oral reading fluency score.

That discrepancy deserves attention.

Or consider a student who reaches the highest benchmark easily but consistently chooses novels several grade levels above the classroom curriculum.

The benchmark may be accurate—but incomplete.

We should consider multiple sources of evidence, including:

• DIBELS results
• Classroom performance
• Reading inventories
• Student writing
• Vocabulary development
• Advanced comprehension tasks
• Achievement assessments
• Teacher observations
• Parent observations
• Student interests
• Gifted identification data
• Above-grade-level assessments when appropriate

No single assessment should define a learner.

Benchmark Is the Beginning, Not the Destination

One of the biggest mistakes we can make with advanced learners is assuming that because they have met the grade-level standard, instruction is finished.

For some students, reaching benchmark means:

They are ready for the next level.

If a gifted student already demonstrates mastery of grade-level reading skills, continuing to provide repeated practice on those same skills may not produce meaningful growth.

Instead, the student may need opportunities for:

• More complex texts
• Higher-level questioning
• Independent research
• Literary analysis
• Primary source analysis
• Socratic seminars
• Debate
• Comparing multiple perspectives
• Evaluating credibility and bias
• Advanced vocabulary
• Creative writing
• Research-based argument
• Interdisciplinary reading experiences

The goal should never be simply to keep gifted students busy.

The goal is continued academic growth.

Growth Matters for Gifted Students Too

We often talk about academic growth for struggling learners—and we absolutely should.

But gifted learners deserve growth as well.

A student who begins the year significantly above grade level should not spend the entire year proving repeatedly that they already know grade-level material.

If we measure success only by whether students meet proficiency standards, highly advanced students can become almost invisible.

They may receive strong grades.

They may meet every benchmark.

They may never cause a problem.

And they may still experience very little academic growth.

That is why educators must look beyond proficiency and ask:

Where did this student begin, and how far did this student grow?

What Teachers Can Do With DIBELS Results

DIBELS can still be extremely useful in a gifted classroom when we use the results appropriately.

If a gifted student demonstrates weakness in a foundational skill, investigate it. Gifted students can need intervention too.

If a student demonstrates clear mastery, consider whether additional assessment is necessary to locate the student’s true instructional level.

If scores seem inconsistent with classroom performance, look deeper instead of assuming either the test or the student tells the whole story.

Most importantly, use DIBELS as one piece of information—not the instructional ceiling.

A Different Question for Gifted Education

When a student reaches benchmark, our work is not necessarily finished.

In gifted education, that may be exactly where our work begins.

Instead of asking:

“Can this student do what is expected for the grade?”

We need to ask:

“What is this student ready to learn next?”

That question changes everything.

It shifts our focus from proficiency to growth.

From completion to challenge.

From grade-level expectations to individual learning needs.

And from simply measuring students…

to actually developing their potential.

🌟 Final Thought

DIBELS can tell us important things about a student’s foundational reading development.

But it cannot tell us everything about a gifted reader.

A benchmark is a data point.

It is not a definition of ability.

It is not a ceiling.

And it should never become an excuse to stop challenging a child who is ready to go further.

In #smithingifted, I want students to know that mastering what they already know isn’t the finish line.

It is permission to move forward.

Think Bigger. Dig Deeper. Keep Growing.

#smithingifted #GiftedEducation #GiftedStudents #DIBELS #ReadingAssessment #Differentiation #TwiceExceptional #2eStudents #AdvancedLearners #ReadingInstruction #AcademicGrowth