Lodi Unified committee recommends Amplify DIBELS as district's universal reading screener; adoption to be returned as consent item

A district committee recommended that the Lodi Unified School District adopt DIBELS by Amplify as its universal reading-difficulty screener, and staff said they will return a consent item for formal adoption at the next board meeting.

The recommendation came after a cross-functional committee of teachers, site leaders and specialists piloted two state-approved instruments, Amplify (DIBELS) and Amira, and used an anonymous, two-step voting process to reach consensus. Susan Peterson, the district's director of education, said the goal of a screener is early identification: "A reading difficulty screener is a brief research based tool that will be used to identify students to be at risk," she said, adding that it is not a diagnostic tool to determine special-education eligibility.

Committee members described the selection process in detail. The committee piloted both platforms across a range of school sites and student populations, including English learners and students with disabilities, then collected teacher and specialist feedback. "By piloting both Amplify and Amira, we were able to compare the tools side by side in real classroom settings," a committee member said. The majority favored the Amplify DIBELS measures for "stronger alignment with teacher-led instruction, actionable data, and better integration into our MTSS," staff reported.

Teachers and administrators addressed usability and supports for the tool. Jenna Paul Freeman, a teacher on special assignment who worked with the platform, said, "It is very easy to use." District staff also said many teachers are already familiar with the Amplify platform because Lodi Unified has used Amplify DIBELS benchmarks for kindergarten through grade 2 testing three times per year.

On implementation, staff outlined a compact timeline: targeted professional development for kindergarten through second-grade teachers, RSP teachers, and mild-to-moderate special-education teachers during summer 2025, followed by a phased roll-out with additional measures administered during the middle-of-year benchmark window in 2025'126. Staff said the committee will produce a guidance document to help teachers interpret results and coordinate follow-up supports.

The board did not take a final adoption vote at the meeting; staff said they will place the recommendation on the consent calendar at the next board meeting so the board can act after formal notice. The presentation repeatedly emphasized that the screener is intended to support early intervention within the district's multi-tiered system of supports.