Staff Report

Selma City schools ended the 2006-2007 academic year with its first annual DIBELS Celebration at Our House Restaurant.

DIBELS, an acronym for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, is a set of standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy development. The measures are designed to be short, one-minute fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of pre-reading and early reading skills. DIBELS is only administered to grades kindergarten through third.

More than 50 teachers and reading coaches assembled at Our House to receive awards from principals and Interim Superintendent Dr. Verdell Dawson for students achieving DIBELS benchmarks in the 80th percentile and above.

“The DIBELS assessments show the progress of our students in reading,” Dawson said. “We are proud of our teachers’ accomplishments with their classes and we look forward to giving out more awards next year.”

Teachers awarded for students achieving DIBELS benchmarks at 80 percent and above are listed below:

Byrd Elementary: A. Lee, A. Sheehan, T. Thacker.

Cedar Park Elementary: D. Fondren, S. Logan, K. Taylor, L. Manderson, J. Hyche.

Clark Elementary: L. Jackson, L. Craig, V. Ashmon, B. Chandler.

Edgewood Elementary: S. Coney, B. Craig, K. Hagood, C. Reeves, Y. Mason, B. Owens, R. Acoff, H. Edwards, D. Miller, Y. Johnson, M. Seller, C. Jones.

Kingston Elementary: B. Arnold, L. Frazier, D. Ishman, S. Wilson, T. Rutledge, T. Woods.

Knox Elementary: S. Williams, T. Nettles, L. Chappelle.

Meadowview Elementary: K. Godbold, D. Powe, M. Sedberry, K. Green, A. Thomas, J. Thompson, S. Waker, H. Gatson, A. Holbrook.

Payne Elementary: L. Bender, V. Castophney, D. Johnson, S. Lewis, A. Smiley, K. Williams.