Reconciling DIBELS and OSELA: What every childhood educator should know

Since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, teachers and parents have witnessed a series of heated debates on the most basic issues of literacy assessment—what to assess and how to assess it. In particular, the controversy rages over DIBELS and OSELA, two popular early literacy assessment instruments. The purpose of this article is to address the early literacy assessment issues from a balanced literacy perspective. In particular, the authors will: 1) introduce DIBELS and OSELA assessments; 2) inspect DIBELS and OSELA from educational philosophy, educational psychology, and literacy development theory bases; 3) examine the DIBELS and OSELA debate from balanced literacy perspectives; and 4) discuss implications and make recommendations for reconciling the DIBELS and OSELA debate.