What’s Right With Our Schools: Midway Elementary enhances students’ reading skills using Dibels Next program

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A school in Milledgeville is finding creative ways to enhance students’ reading skills and fluency.

“We can identify any issues the students may have with reading, pin put those issues, and we have interventions to work on strengthening their skills right then and right there,” says Antonio Ingram, Principal of Midway Elementary.

The “Dibels Next” program measures early literacy, accuracy, speed, and comprehension skills. The program has several components including teaching fluency,being able to break down words and sounds, and understanding nonsense words.

Third grade teacher, Tammie Shinholster, says “I do think it a good way to measure where they are.”

“I think it’s very effective and we’ve shown a lot of growth,” first grade teacher, Mandy Hopkins adds.

Teachers use “fitness fluency,” an exercise in the classroom, to make learning active and fun.

They come to alot of words when they’re reading that they don’t know, so the word picnic for an example, pic that’s a nonsense word. And if they’re able to sound out pic and nic, they can put that together to do multisyllabic words and it helps them build their fluency,” second grade teacher  Terri Carty explains.

“Once they get to second grade, and even the end of first grade, they are reading text and having to retell,”Hopkins continues.

“When they get into some of the higher grades, they will apply those reading skills to their knowledge of social studies, when they’re reading passages in science and even math problems as well,” says Antonio Ingram.

Students are expected to tell what they have read. By doing this, shows teachers they have effective comprehension skills. some students have they’re own methods while practicing these comprehension skills.

“I try to picture what I’m reading,like if it says what they’re doing, I try to picture what they’re doing,”says fifth grader, Shivani Patel.

“Now I know how to process more words, and work more computation problems out,” adds fifth grader, John Roach.

Fifth grader, Makayla Bloodworth says,”I use to be like really slow at them, and the most I could get maybe is about 20 problems done,but now I can probably get a whole page done.”

Administrators believe instilling the importance of reading in the students early, makes them more familiar with new words and reduce reading difficulties later in their lives. For more than 5 years,”Dibels Next” have made students learning experience a success.