FLUENCY Assessing

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FLUENCYAssessing Teaching this KEY Reading
Skill
Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D. Seattle, WA
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WHAT IS READING FLUENCY?

• The ability to read
• accurately
• quickly
• with expression

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• WHO ARE THESE STUDENTS?
• DESCRIPTORS
• Read haltingly
• Slow, laborious readers
• Read wordbyword
• Uncertain of sight words
• Ignore punctuation

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• REAL TARGET
• Comprehension Motivation
• Multiple Causes of Comprehension Problems
• Lack of sufficient background knowledge
• Lack of sufficient language foundation
• Fails to organize use information to
  understand--Does not realize when
  s/he fails to understand
• Decoding/fluency skills poor

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• National Reading Panel (2000)
• Five Key Instructional Components
• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension Strategies

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• WHY IS FLUENCY SO IMPORTANT?
• Comprehension limited by labored, inefficient
  reading (working memory)
• Lack of fluency lack of motivation fewer
  words read smaller vocabulary limited
  comprehension
  (self-perpetuating)
• There is no comprehension strategy that
  compensates for difficulty reading words
  accurately fluently. (Torgeson,
  2003)

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Bridge to Comprehension

• Fluency forms the bridge between
  word recognition comprehension

FLUENCY
Constructing Meaning
Identifying Words
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MEASURING READING FLUENCY
the number of words in text read correctly per
minute (wcpm) or letters, sounds,
words
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ASSESSING FLUENCY 3 ROLES
1 FINDING students who may need intervention
assistance in reading 2 DIAGNOSING fluency
problems 3 MONITORING PROGRESS to determine if
reading skills are improving
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OSPI Reading Fluency GLEs

• Grade 1 50-65 words correct per minute
• Grade 2 90-100 wcpm
• Grade 3 110-120 wcpm
• Grade 4 115-125 wcpm
• Grade 5 125-135 wcpm
• Grade 6 up 145-155 wcpm

Unpracticed, cold reading by end of the year
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Hasbrouck Tindal Norms for Oral Reading
Fluency for Grades 2-5
Upper grades 150 wcpm/50th percentile
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PROVIDING FLUENCY INSTRUCTION or
INTERVENTION ON BEYOND / APPROACHING LEVEL
In-class practice
opportunities INTERVENTION
Explicit, systematic
instruction/practice
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Key Research Findings

• Guided reading practice improves fluency for
  typical students
• Independent practice (silent
  reading) NOT sufficient to
  improve fluency

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PASSAGE READING PRACTICES TO IMPROVE FLUENCY
Traditional practice Round robin reading
from science, social studies, literature,
chapter books Students take turns reading
parts of a text aloud
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• ALTERNATIVES TO ROUND ROBIN
• Choral Reading
• Cloze Reading
• Partner Reading

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• CHORAL READING
• Whole class reads ALOUD TOGETHER from
  same selection
• NON-THREATENING practice
• PROCEDURE
• Orally read with students
• Read at a moderate rate
• Use pre-correction procedures
  Keep your voice with mine.

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• CLOZE READING
• ASSISTS students in reading difficult material
• Provides GROUP PRACTICE MAINTAINS student
  ATTENTION
• PROCEDURE
• Orally read the material to students
• Read at a moderate rate
• Pause have students say the next word
• Intentionally delete meaningful words

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• PARTNER READING
• EASY EFFECTIVE way to involve students
• Increases instructional TIME ON TASK
• PROCEDURE
• Assign students partners (1 is higher performing
  student who readers first)
• Designate amount to read to partner
• When an error is heard, have students use the
  Ask, then Tell procedure
• Ask Can you figure out this word?
• Tell The word is _________.
• Read the sentence again.

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Establishing Partners

• Avoid pairing highest and lowest skilled readers
• Consider taking lowest readers into a small group
  for practice with the teacher

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Establishing Partners

• Michael
• Andrea
• Ezra
• Juan
• Amy
• Hyun Ha
• Mari
• Harry
• Sarah
• Ashante

• Ebonie
• Jazmine
• Bobby
• Celisse
• Marsha
• Krishon
• Sammy
• Jamie
• Orlando
• Miquel

• Quan
• Kyesha
• Francisco
• Angelica

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PARTNER READING VARIATIONS Side by Side- Reading
to a Partner Students sit next to each other with
one book between them. One partner reads points
to the words the other partner follows
along. Shoulder to Shoulder- Reading to a
Partner Students sit facing opposite directions
with shoulders aligned. Each partner has a
book. Reading WITH a Partner Students sit side
to side with one book between them. Both partners
read at the same time as partner one touches the
words.
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INSTRUCTION for INTERVENTION (a) FOLLOWING A
MODEL Reading along with a model of accurate
reading from an audio tape/CD OR a skillful
reader
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(b) REPEATED READING Students reread passage
orally to themselves or a partner until
predetermined goal achieved (30-40 words above
baseline) (c) MONITORING PROGRESS Students
graph their performance Cold reading first
then again after practice
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• PROVIDE FLUENCY INSTRUCTION AT A CHALLENGING
  INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL
• Model provides SCAFFOLDING
• Students must WORK HARD
  toward achieving goal
  to see real progress

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COMMERCIAL FLUENCY PROGRAMS

• Read Naturally
  Levels .8- 8.0
• Audio tapes/CD or software editions
• Six Minute Solution
  160 passages Grades 1.0-8.0
• Partner reading

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Focus on Fluency Osborn Lehr
www.prel.org FREE!
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Assessing Fluency Tim Rasinski
www.prel.org FREE!
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• REFERENCES
• Chard, D., Vaughn, S., Tyler, B.J. (2002). A
  synthesis of research on effective interventions
  for building reading fluency with elementary
  students with learning disabilities. Journal of
  Learning Disabilities, 36(5), 386-406.
• DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early
  Literacy Skills). http//idea.uoregon.edu/dibels/
  
• Edformation http//www.edformation.com/
• Fuchs, L., Fuchs, D., Hamlett, C., Walz, L.,
  Germann, G. (1993). Formative evaluation of
  academic progress How much growth? School
  Psychology Review, 22(1), 27-48.

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• Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Hosp, M. K., Jenkins,
  J. R. (2001). Oral reading fluency as an
  indicator of reading competence A theoretical,
  empirical, and historical analysis. Scientific
  Studies of Reading, 5(3), 239-256.
• Hasbrouck, J.E., Ihnot, C., Rogers, G. H.
  (1999). Read Naturally A strategy to increase
  oral reading fluency. Reading Research
  Instruction, 39(1), 27-38.
• Hasbrouck, J.E., Woldbeck, T., Ihnot, C.,
  Parker, R. I. (1999). One teachers use of
  curriculum-based measurement A changed opinion.
  Learning Disabilities Research Practice,
  14(2), 118-126.

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• Hasbrouck, J. E. Tindal, G. (Spring, 1992).
  Curriculum-based oral reading fluency norms for
  students in grades 2-5. Teaching Exceptional
  Children, 24(3), 41-44.
• NATIONAL READING PANEL REPORT (2000)
  www.nationalreadingpanel.org
• Osborn, J. Lehr, F. A Focus on Fluency
  www.prel.org (free booklet)

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• Rasinski, T. Assessing Reading Fluency
  www.prel.org (free booklet)
• READ NATURALLY Reading Fluency Monitor
  www.readnaturally.com
  1-800-788-4085
  info_at_readnaturally.com
• Shinn, M. R. (Ed.) (1989). Curriculum-Based
  Measurement Assessing Special Children. NY
  Guilford. ISBN 0-89862231X
• SOPRIS WEST 6 Minute Solution
  www.sopriswest.com 1-800-547-6747

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Contact Information Jan Hasbrouck,
Ph.D. Educational Consultant Seattle,
WA www.jhasbrouck.com