Assessing Fluency Formally and Informally
The most informal way is to listen to a student read aloud and make a judgment about their progress in fluency.
The easiest way to formally assess fluency is to take a timed sample of students reading and compare their performance (number of words read correctly per minute) with published Oral Reading Fluency Target (ORF) Rate Norms (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 1992). For example according to one published norm, students should be reading approximately 50-60 words per minute correctly, 84-94 words per minute correctly by the end of second grade and approximately 104-114 words per minute correctly by the end of third grade.
Monitoring student’s progress in reading fluency will help to determine the effectiveness of your instruction and the setting of instructional goals. Seeing their fluency growth reflected in graphs can keep students motivated.
Repeated reading rate: A child reads a text. Teacher counts how many words were read correctly in one minute. Child does a repeated reading of the same text as the teacher charts the progress of the child on graph. This tests for rate.
Miscue analysis/running record: a child is given a passage to read. Teacher has copy of same passage. Teacher marks incorrect reading or omisssion of words. This tests accuracy.
When using repeated reading or miscue analysis, teachers rate students overall fluency using an oral reading rubric.
National Reading Panel also recommends the following fluency assessment:
Informal reading inventories (Johnson, Kress & Pikulski, 1987)
Miscue analysis ( Goodman & Burke, 1972)
Pausing indices (Pinnell et al., 1995)
Running records (Clay, 2000).
The purpose of these procedures, however, is to identify the kinds of word recognition problems students may have, not to measure fluency. These procedures are also very time consuming.
Simpler measures of speed and accuracy, such as calculating words read correctly per minute, are more appropriate.
The easiest way to formally assess fluency is to take a timed sample of students reading and compare their performance (number of words read correctly per minute) with published Oral Reading Fluency Target (ORF) Rate Norms (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 1992). For example according to one published norm, students should be reading approximately 50-60 words per minute correctly, 84-94 words per minute correctly by the end of second grade and approximately 104-114 words per minute correctly by the end of third grade.
Monitoring student’s progress in reading fluency will help to determine the effectiveness of your instruction and the setting of instructional goals. Seeing their fluency growth reflected in graphs can keep students motivated.
Repeated reading rate: A child reads a text. Teacher counts how many words were read correctly in one minute. Child does a repeated reading of the same text as the teacher charts the progress of the child on graph. This tests for rate.
Miscue analysis/running record: a child is given a passage to read. Teacher has copy of same passage. Teacher marks incorrect reading or omisssion of words. This tests accuracy.
When using repeated reading or miscue analysis, teachers rate students overall fluency using an oral reading rubric.
National Reading Panel also recommends the following fluency assessment:
Informal reading inventories (Johnson, Kress & Pikulski, 1987)
Miscue analysis ( Goodman & Burke, 1972)
Pausing indices (Pinnell et al., 1995)
Running records (Clay, 2000).
The purpose of these procedures, however, is to identify the kinds of word recognition problems students may have, not to measure fluency. These procedures are also very time consuming.
Simpler measures of speed and accuracy, such as calculating words read correctly per minute, are more appropriate.
To Determine Proficiency in Decoding Text:
If you ask a student to read orally from a text that they haven’t practices; and the students makes more than ten percent word recognition errors, if the student cannot read orally with expression or if the student’s comprehension is poor for the text that they read orally, then the text is to hard (Ambruster, & Osborn, 2001).
Calculate the percentage of words readers can accurately decode on grade-level material. An accuracy level of 90-95 percent is usually considered adequate (Rasinski, 2004).
How to Assess Prosodic Reading:
Listen to a student read a grade level passage and to then judge the quality of the reading using a rubric that scores a student on the elements of expression, volume, phrasing, smoothness, and pace (Rasinski, 2004). By having student read a grade level passage for one minute, teacher can get a quick sense of their student’s level of decoding accuracy, automaticity, and prosodic reading.
Calculate the percentage of words readers can accurately decode on grade-level material. An accuracy level of 90-95 percent is usually considered adequate (Rasinski, 2004).
How to Assess Prosodic Reading:
Listen to a student read a grade level passage and to then judge the quality of the reading using a rubric that scores a student on the elements of expression, volume, phrasing, smoothness, and pace (Rasinski, 2004). By having student read a grade level passage for one minute, teacher can get a quick sense of their student’s level of decoding accuracy, automaticity, and prosodic reading.
Resources to use to Assess Fluency:
Assessing and calculating student’s fluency rating scales (Rasinski, Blachowicz & Lems, 2012).
Fluency rubric to assess the five dimensions of fluency (Pinell & Fountas, 2009),
NAEP oral reading fluency scale to determine the students phrasing,
The norm reference scale (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 1992) to see how the student compares to fluency standards.
Fluency rubric to assess the five dimensions of fluency (Pinell & Fountas, 2009),
NAEP oral reading fluency scale to determine the students phrasing,
The norm reference scale (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 1992) to see how the student compares to fluency standards.
Why Collect Data:
Data provides a way to assess what students are learning and the extent to which students are making progress toward goals. Using data to ask questions and obtain insight about student progress is a way to monitor continuous improvement and tailor instruction to the needs of each student.
It allows teachers to pinpoint areas of weakness, but also areas of strengths (Bean & DeFord, 2007). Analyzing and interpreting data can be used to modify instruction and increase student learning and make instructional decisions to raise student achievement (Guth & Fartro, 2010).
It allows teachers to pinpoint areas of weakness, but also areas of strengths (Bean & DeFord, 2007). Analyzing and interpreting data can be used to modify instruction and increase student learning and make instructional decisions to raise student achievement (Guth & Fartro, 2010).
Developing and Assessing Fluent Writing:
Students often struggle with the order in which words are organized to create a sentence. Fluency can be checked by the students or others by reading their writing aloud. It is often much easier for students to recognize fluency problems if they read their work aloud or someone else reads it to them because the practice allows them to hear the “flow” of the piece.
Assessing Fluency in Writing:
Students writing can be assessed quickly by asking students to read their work to you, or have them read the assignments to a peer to check the fluency of the writing. Students can use a highlighter to highlight any areas in their work in which the flow of the writing sounds choppy. This will allow students to think of ways to correct the problem to maintain the flow. The more often a student writes, the better the student becomes at creating fluent writing.
Assessing Fluency in Writing:
Students writing can be assessed quickly by asking students to read their work to you, or have them read the assignments to a peer to check the fluency of the writing. Students can use a highlighter to highlight any areas in their work in which the flow of the writing sounds choppy. This will allow students to think of ways to correct the problem to maintain the flow. The more often a student writes, the better the student becomes at creating fluent writing.