What is Benchmark?
The Read To Achieve performance expectations are that at least
65 percent of students who complete the one-year
instructional cycle of the intensive reading program will:
- Reach their Achievement goals; or
- Reach their Benchmark goals, demonstrating that they are on pace to achieving grade-level
proficiency on the state assessment in reading.
Benchmark and Achievement Goals
| Kindergarten |
PSF |
NWF |
ORF |
| Benchmark Goal |
35 |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
| Achievement Goal |
54 |
| First Grade |
PSF |
NWF |
ORF |
| Benchmark Goal |
35 |
50 |
40 |
| Achievement Goal |
60 |
83 |
74 |
| Second Grade |
PSF |
NWF |
ORF |
| Benchmark Goal |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
90 |
| Achievement Goal |
111 |
| Third Grade |
PSF |
NWF |
ORF |
| Benchmark Goal |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
110 |
| Achievement Goal |
125 |
More Information on Benchmark
As you all know, in order to be eligible for subsequent funding, 65 percent of the students in your RTA programs must be at or above Benchmark by the end of the year. But what does it mean to be "at
Benchmark?"
According to Dr. Roland Good, the co-creator of DIBELS, once students are at Benchmark, they are merely "OK." They are at low risk of having significant difficulties with reading. If students are reading at Benchmark, they are only reading at the fortieth percentile. There is still a risk of reading difficulties.
Please submit the following test scores into our data collection tool:
| Kindergarten: |
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF) only |
| First Grade: |
PSF and Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF). We will also collect Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) scores, but we will not count these scores towards the 65 percent Benchmark total. |
| Second Grade: |
ORF only |
| Third Grade: |
ORF only |
Please Note: This does not mean that you cannot give other DIBELS assessments to your RTA students for the purposes of
progress monitoring. We encourage you to use the assessments that work best for your program.
