Fall screening reports are starting to come home, but terms like below benchmark, at risk, DIBELS, and i-Ready can leave parents with more questions than answers. What are these assessments actually measuring, and what should happen when the results show that a child may need additional support?
In this special episode of More Than Words, Tristen is joined by Dr. Helen Behr and Meg Shah. Together, they break down common early literacy screening data, explain how schools use results to plan instruction and monitor progress, and share practical ways parents can approach conversations with their child’s school. Most importantly, they explain why a screening result is a starting point for asking questions, not a diagnosis or final conclusion about a child’s reading ability.
What You’ll Learn
- What DIBELS measures and why many of its early literacy tasks are timed
- What terms like at risk, below benchmark, and the red, yellow, green, and blue score ranges can tell you
- How Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN), phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading fluency contribute to the bigger picture
- How i-Ready differs from DIBELS and why schools may use both assessments
- What Tier 2 and Tier 3 reading support can look like when a student needs additional instruction
- Why progress monitoring matters and how schools determine whether an intervention is working
- What parents can ask teachers about screening results, goals, intervention, and next steps
- How to approach parent-teacher conversations with specific questions and genuine curiosity
About Meg Shah
Meg Shah is the Founder and CEO of MVS Educational Services, where she supports families and schools in building collaborative, student-centered plans. With over a decade of experience in education, Meg has worked as a teacher, special educator, and school leader within the DC charter school system. She also brings a unique background in law, which informs her structured, solution-oriented approach to advocacy. Meg specializes in helping parents navigate early concerns, communicate effectively with schools, and create actionable plans that support both academic and social-emotional growth. She is passionate about shifting conversations from reactive to proactive so children can thrive.
About Dr. Helen Behr
Dr. Helen Behr is the Director of the DCPS Reading Clinic. Dr. Behr earned a Master of Education degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Education Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In California, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Washington DC, Helen has worked as a teacher, instructional coach, and national literacy trainer before taking the helm at the DCPS Reading Clinic in June of 2022. The Reading Clinic provides educators with professional development and embedded coaching so they can implement research-based structured literacy instruction to readers learning to decode.
Links & Resources
Meg Shah / MVS Educational Services
Website: www.mvsed.com
Instagram: @mvs.ed
LinkedIn: Meg Shah
Dr. Helen Behr
LinkedIn: Dr. Helen Behr
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Micro-conference toolkit
For more resources and information from The Reading & Language Learning Center:
Website: www.readingllcenter.com
Facebook: @readingllcenter
Instagram: @readingllcenter
YouTube: The Reading & Language Learning Center
LinkedIn: The Reading & Language Learning Center
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