Board briefed on plan to adopt Acadience (formerly DIBELS) as district universal screener

School City of East Chicago elementary leaders on June 17 recommended adopting Acadience (formerly known as DIBELS) as the district’s universal screener for early reading, asking the board to approve a two‑year agreement after the state offered to cover the cost.

Christina Gutierrez, the elementary presenter, told trustees the state requires districts to administer a universal screener and has recommended Acadience; the district would use the tool for phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency and nonsense-word decoding as part of progress monitoring and compliance with dyslexia‑screening requirements. Gutierrez said the state is willing to pick up the vendor fees and the district will use its formative-assessment grant funding to cover the implementation.

Trustees asked about training and grade span. Gutierrez said Acadience will require teacher training; the vendor will provide a three‑hour training session scheduled for August 7 during teacher professional development. She said the tool will be required for K–2 dyslexia screening and that licenses will also be available for some third-grade students in Tier 2 progress-monitoring.

Gutierrez noted the district currently uses NWEA MAP Fluency for progress monitoring and that moving to an adult‑administered screening (rather than a fully computerized screener) will give teachers a one‑on‑one assessment and address concerns about validity in the computerized format. She also told trustees that state iRead results were still embargoed; unembargoing was expected in late July or the first week in August, and the memorandum from the state directs identified schools to adopt Acadience.

Ending: Staff asked the board to approve the two‑year agreement and to support scheduled teacher training. Trustees requested an update from the district dyslexia coordinator, Jessica Peters, once implementation is underway.