Evaluating Reading Tests for the State of Florida : Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills , 6

Executive Summary The Florida Department of Education asked the Buros Center for Testing to review two reading tests that have been used and may continue to be used in the future in the Florida schools. The Buros Center for Testing, specifically its Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, is without question the best known and largest test evaluation center in the world, with a history of some 75 years working as the " Consumer Reports " of the testing industry. The two tests reviewed were DIBELS: Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (6 th Edition) and FAIR: Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading. The former instrument is widely available and used in many places and was previously reviewed by Buros in the Mental Measurements Yearbook. The latter is an instrument developed by the Florida Department of Education in conjunction with the Florida Center for Reading Research. Although this page represents an executive summary, it obviously would be impossible to summarize some 45 pages of technical text on a page. Both reviews follow the same outline as has been used in the Mental Measurements Yearbook series for many years. They open with a description of the instrument and its use, follow with a portrayal of its development, provide a summarization of the technical information by which all educational measures are evaluated, and conclude with both a commentary and a summary. The technical section