Assessing construct of DIBELS: Measurement invariance of DIBELS subscales, from kindergarten to the first grade

•We examined measurement invariance of the subscales of DIBELS.•There is a high correlation among latent factors of subscales of DIBELS.•The DIBELS subtests do not seem to show invariance.•The DIBELS subtests share a common factor of reading skills.

A challenge using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) in studying reading growth is that reading skills children exhibit change by age. In order to study growth using changing subscales, it is necessary to examine measurement invariance and measurement structure underlying the different subscales. The purpose of this paper is to examine the measurement structure of the DIBELS subscales, particular measurement invariance. The results indicate that the DIBELS subscales do not seem to have metric invariance but they do share a common factor over time, suggesting that the same construct of reading skills were measured but they manifested in the different fashion over time.