Student Selection

Our program focuses on young learners during critical development years:

• Core Specialization: Grades K–2
• Extended Capacity: Serving students through Grade 6

Recommended Student Profile

OYM tutoring is most effective for students in the mid-to-lower range of foundational reading skills, particularly those:

• Approaching benchmark levels (yellow or mid-high red in DIBELS)
• Struggling with phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, or high-frequency word recognition

We encourage schools to:

1. Prioritize “bubble” students first—those close to benchmarks.
2. Then include students with more significant needs who may still benefit from Tier 2/3 tutoring support.

If Your School Uses DIBELS 8th Edition:

• Use Beginning-of-Year (BOY) data to identify students scoring in the yellow or red ranges.
• Focus on skill-specific results (e.g., LNF, PSF, NWF) to determine where support is most needed.
• OYM will continue using DIBELS for progress monitoring and to assess continued eligibility.

LAUSD DIBELS Cut Scores Reference

If Your School Does Not Use DIBELS:

• Use internal reading assessments to identify students below benchmark.
• OYM will conduct a BOY DIBELS assessment for flagged students to finalize selection.
• OYM will administer a UFLI Placement Test on the first day of tutoring to identify each student’s precise starting point in the lesson sequence.

Tutoring Graduation & Roster Management

• Students who consistently meet benchmarks may graduate out of tutoring.
• New students with greater needs can be added as slots open up.
• Grade-level skill expectations shift as the year progresses (see below).

Skill Difficulty Guidance by Grade Level

As the year progresses (MOY and beyond), the focus shifts to decoding and more advanced phoneme-grapheme correspondence.

Additional Notes

• Schools should coordinate with OYM to confirm rosters after BOY testing.
• Substantial ongoing data sharing is key to refining support and identifying student readiness for graduation.