Determining who needs a reading fluency intervention

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Because oral reading fluency has been shown to be a reliable indicator of overall reading performance, national norms for reading fluency can provide a valuable tool for making key decisions about students.  By using national norms, educators can regularly assess student performance and evaluate the progress toward a stable and recognized goal.  When student progress is frequently measured using passages that have been carefully calibrated and standardized, the scores are stable and trustworthy indicators of performance.

To determine if a student needs a reading fluency intervention, compare his or her average words-correct-per-minute (wcpm) score from two or three unpracticed readings of grade-level assessment passages to oral reading fluency norms, such as the Hasbrouck-Tindal Oral Reading Fluency Norms. If this score places the student ten or more words below the 50th percentile, you should consider adding a fluency program to his or her core instructional program and diagnose the student to see if he or she needs additional support.

 View the Hasbrouck-Tindal oral reading fluency norms
 Assessing oral reading fluency with Reading Fluency Progress Monitor (printed materials)

ASSESSING FLUENCY

Benchmark assessments are useful, easy-to-use screening tools that help teachers quickly find out which students fall below expectations in reading. The teacher administers an oral reading fluency assessment, listening to each student read grade-level passages and calculating the number of words and average words per minute the student has read correctly. A low fluency score indicates the student needs fluency training and further assessment to determine any other training needs.

FLUENCY NEEDS VS. COMPREHENSION NEEDS

Using the table below, teachers can decide what further assessment and explicit reading instruction each student needs, based on the student’s fluency score and most recent standardized reading comprehension score.

	For students with low comprehension scores...	For students with high comprehension scores...
For students with low fluency scores...	Assess phonemic awareness and teach if necessary. Assess decoding and teach if necessary. Teach fluency explicitly. Teach comprehension. Work on vocabulary.	Assess decoding and teach if necessary. Teach fluency explicitly. Continue effective core instruction and offer enrichment activities where appropriate.
For students with high fluency scores...	Teach comprehension. Work on vocabulary.	Continue effective core instruction and offer enrichment activities where appropriate.