Ugh-- yeah. Basically, the DIBELS is not even SUITABLE for children who are already reading fluently with decoding skills and have begun transitioning to SSR which more probably uses whole language methods for common, recognized words.
For example:
How rapidly can you read this sentence aloud? Pretty fast, I think.
Now this sample:
ghive thento argen wassle trall evren subble stip arven wingle bapp voff elough.
See how much more you stumble over the second? Yeah-- well, if you weren't JUST AS FAST at the two tasks, and just as ACCURATE, then you just "failed" that portion of this test.
Since kids are often not instructed that the words WILL be nonsense, and that they need to just 'read them the way they should sound' they may think the entire exercise is a joke, or that there is something screwy with that part of the test, leading them to be reluctant to take it seriously.
Whole language readers will fail this part of things.
