Transcript Day 2: Evaluating Performance: Schoolwide Assessment of Student

Automaticity And Fluency With
Connected Text: Planning for Instruction
Beth Harn, Ph.D. [email protected]
University of Oregon
Content Development
Content developed by:
Edward J. Kame’enui, Ph. D.
Professor, College of Education
University of Oregon
Deborah C. Simmons, Ph. D.
Professor, College of Education & Human
Development
Texas A & M University
Beth Harn, Ph. D.
College of Education
University of Oregon
Sarah Mc Donagh, Ph. D.
Western Regional Reading First
Technical Assistance Center
University of Oregon
Prepared by:
Patrick Kennedy-Paine
University of Oregon
2
Acknowledgments
 U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Special Education Programs
 Institute for the Development of Educational
Achievement, College of Education, University of
Oregon
 Dr. Sharon Vaughn, University of Texas at Austin,
Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts
website: http://www.texasreading.org/utcrla/
3
Copyright
 All materials are copy written and should
not be reproduced or used without
expressed permission of Dr. Edward J.
Kame’enui or Dr. Deborah C. Simmons.
Selected slides were reproduced from
other sources and original references cited.
4
Session Objectives
The objectives of today’s session are to:
1.
Define automaticity and fluency, and identify the
components of reading fluency.
2.
Identify what the research tells us about the importance of
fluency and effective fluency instruction.
3.
Determine how to assess automaticity and fluency
development and establish the need for fluency building.
4.
Plan for automaticity and fluency instruction in the
classroom.
 Select and sequence letter-sounds, words and text to
enhance oral reading fluency.
 Set appropriate fluency goals.

Select and deliver instructional strategies to promote
automaticity and fluency in letter sounds, irregular word
reading and passage reading.
5
 Fluency with the Connected Text:
“The ability to read connected text rapidly, smoothly,
effortlessly, and automatically with little attention to the
mechanics of reading such as decoding”
(Meyer & Felton, 1999, p. 284)
6
 Principal components of reading fluency:
 Accuracy in decoding (sounds, digraphs,
dipthongs, etc.)
 Automaticity in word recognition (whole word
reading)
 Appropriate use of prosodic cues (reading
inflection)
7
Definitions

Automaticity: The ability to translate letters-to-sounds-to-words
fluently, effortlessly. LaBerge and Samuels (1974) described the
fluent reader as "one whose decoding process are automatic,
requiring no conscious attention" (cited in Juel, 1991, p. 760). Such
capacity enables readers to allocate their attention to the
comprehension and meaning of text.

Fluency: The combination of accuracy and speed in reading
connected text. Fluency in oral reading includes additional
dimensions involving the "quality" of oral reading including intonation
and expression.

Passage Reading: Structured activity in which students read stories
or connected text designed to provide practice and application of
decoding and comprehension skills. Passage reading provides
students the practice to become accurate and fluent.
8
Session Objectives
The objectives of today’s session are to:
1.
2.
Define automaticity and fluency, and identify the
components of reading fluency.
Identify what the research tells us about the importance
of fluency and effective fluency instruction.
3.
Determine how to assess automaticity and fluency
development and establish the need for fluency building.
4. Plan for automaticity and fluency instruction in the
classroom.
 Select and sequence letter-sounds, words and text to
enhance oral reading fluency.
 Set appropriate fluency goals.
 Select and deliver instructional strategies to promote
automaticity and fluency in letter sounds, irregular word
reading and passage reading.
9
Why Fluency is Important?
 Fluency “may be almost a necessary condition for
good comprehension and enjoyable reading
experiences” (Nathan & Stanovich, 1991, pg. 176).
 If a reader has to spend too much time and energy
figuring out what the words are, she will be unable to
concentrate on what the words mean (Coyne,
Kame’enui, & Simmons, 2001).
10
What the Research Says About Fluency
Fluent readers:
 Focus their attention on
understanding the text
 Synchronize skills of
decoding, vocabulary,
and comprehension
 Read with speed and
accuracy
 Interpret text and make
connections between
the ideas in the text
 Nonfluent readers:
 Focus attention on
decoding
 Alter attention to
accessing the meaning of
individual words
 Make frequent word
reading errors
 Have few cognitive
resources left to
comprehend
11
What the Research Says About Fluency
 Successful readers...
 rely primarily on the letters in the word rather
than context or pictures to identify familiar and
unfamiliar words.
 process virtually every word they read.
 use letter-sound correspondences to identify
words.
 have a reliable strategy for decoding words.
 read words numerous times to build instant
recognition.
12
What Skills Does Fluency Include?
Accurate and efficient skills in:
 Letter-sound correspondences (alphabetic
understanding)
 Blending sounds to form words (alphabetic
principle)
 Word identification (regular and irregular)
 Word knowledge or vocabulary
 Comprehension monitoring
13
Frustration: How it Feels to Read Without
Fluency
He had never seen dogs fight as these w______ish c___ f______t,
and his first ex________ t______t him an unf________able l______n.
It is true, it was a vi___ ex________, else he would not have lived to
pr___it by it. Curly was the v________. They were camped near the
log store, where she, in her friend__ way, made ad________ to a
husky dog the size of a full-_______ wolf, the_____ not half so large
as ____he. ____ere was no w___ing, only a leap in like a flash, a
met______ clip of teeth, a leap out equal__ swift, and Curly’s face
was ripped open from eye to jaw. It was the wolf manner of
fight_____, to st____ and leap away; but there was more to it than
this. Th____ or forty huskies ran _o the spot and not com_____d
that s______t circle. Buck did not com_______d that s______t
in_____, not the e__ way with which they were licking their chops. 14
Instructional Priorities: Grade 1
15
Instructional Priorities: Grade 2
16
Instructional Priorities: Grade 2
17
Instructional Priorities: Grade 3
18
Critical Elements in Automaticity & Fluency with
the Connected Text
 The National Reading Panel report (2000) indicates the
following elements as essential in Fluency Instruction:
Repeated
Readings
Keep the
end in mind..
Fluency is only
part of the
picture!
Corrective
Feedback
Not all children
need all...
differentiate!
Relatively brief
sessions (15-30
minutes)
19
Critical Elements in Automaticity & Fluency with
Connected Text

Activities should involve the following:
1. Repeated reading of materials that students read
with good accuracy (>90%)
2. Regular practice at the skill (e.g., multiple times a
day/week) with short time intervals (15-30 minutes)
3. Corrective feedback from teacher/instructor
4. Ambitious goal setting
5. Graphing/charting of learner performance
6. Modifying instructional materials as student
performance warrants
20
Application Activity:
Identifying SBRR in Practice

Work in small groups to examine two lessons
in your reading program and evaluate its
effectiveness in terms of the critical elements
of automaticity and fluency with connected
text instruction.
How and where
does my program
teach fluency
building?
21
Session Objectives
The objectives of today’s session are to:
1.
Define automaticity and fluency, and identify the components of reading
fluency.
2.
Identify what the research tells us about the importance of fluency and
effective fluency instruction.
3.
Determine how to assess automaticity and fluency development
and establish the need for fluency building.
4.
Plan for automaticity and fluency instruction in the classroom.

Select and sequence letter-sounds, words and text to enhance oral reading
fluency.

Set appropriate fluency goals.

Select and deliver instructional strategies to promote automaticity and
fluency in letter sounds, irregular word reading and passage reading.
22
Assessing Automaticity and Fluency
DIBELS NWF & ORF
 Each measure is designed to assess accuracy
and fluency.
 Accuracy: How well does the child perform the skill?
 Fluency: How easily or quickly does the child perform
the skill?
 The best way to gather this information is to use
the student booklets and examine responses to
the task.
23
Assessing Automaticity: DIBELS NWF
The DIBELS Measure Used to Assess Automaticity:
NWF
 Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) for 1st Grade
 How Well? 50
 By When? Middle of First Grade
 Interim performance predictive of the later goal:
13 in the middle of Kindergarten
24
Assessing Automaticity: DIBELS NWF
Examine Student Booklets for Patterns
 How well does the child perform the skill?
 Accuracy
 Skill
Example nonsense
word “fek”
Letter sound
Letter sound & blend
Word level
Student Response
Student says:
/f/ /e/ /k/
/f/ /e/ /k/ /fek/
/fek/
25
Assessing Automaticity: DIBELS NWF
 When analyzing student performance, look
for patterns of performance:
 Words or sounds Correct?
 Specific sounds correct (e.g. stop vs. continuous),
blends, words that begin with continuous
sound, vowels, etc.
 Pattern of Errors?
 Specific sounds (e.g., stop vs. continuous),
substitutions, omission, errors involving vowels.
 Make sure to rule out articulation, hearing
difficulties, or simply having a bad minute!
26
Assessing Automaticity: DIBELS NWF
 How easily and quickly does the child perform the
skill?
 How many nonsense words were attempted?
 A score of 50 letter-sounds per minute involving 20 words is
an indication of a whole word strategy.
 A score of 50 letter-sounds per minute involving 12 words is
an indication of a sounding out strategy.
 How many errors did the student make?
 Determine accuracy by dividing the number of letter-sounds
read correct by total letter-sounds read.
 33 correct / 52 total attempted = 63% accuracy
27
Assessing Automaticity: DIBELS NWF
Examine Student Booklets for Patterns
 How well does the child perform the skill?
 Accuracy
 Fluency
 General performance patterns:
 Not Accurate: student makes many letter-sound/nonsense word
reading errors or is prompted by the examiner to move on to
additional items.
 Accurate but Slow: student reads letter-sounds/nonsense words with
over 90% accuracy; however, many hesitations, repetitions and slow
pace.
 Fast but Not Accurate: student is fast but makes many lettersound/nonsense word reading substitution errors.
 Fluent Reading: student reads letter-sound/nonsense words with
good speed and accuracy.
28
Assessing Automaticity: DIBELS NWF
Frank
 What is Frank’s knowledge of
the alphabetic principle?
 Inconsistent on letter-sounds
 Does not blend any sounds
together
 How accurately can Frank
perform the skill?
 70% accuracy
 Readiness for automaticity
instruction?
16
 Focus on accuracy
instruction
 Develop automaticity with
known letter-sounds
 Instructional implication?
 He is in need of intensive
intervention to meet the end
of year goal of being a
reader.
29
Assessing Automaticity: DIBELS NWF
Tanya



What is Tanya’s knowledge of
the alphabetic principle?
 Accurately produces all letter
sounds
 Consistently blends sounds
together to read the word
How accurately can Tanya
perform the skill?

Readiness for automaticity
instruction?


58

100% accuracy
Not required at the letter-sound
level
Develop automaticity with
known words: regular and
irregular
 Provide opportunities for
connected text reading
Instructional implication?


Has met mid year benchmark.
Move to instruction on
connected text reading.
30
Application Activity
 Work in small groups to complete two
additional NWF case scenarios. In doing
so, please determine the instructional
implications for each case.
Is letter-sound and word reading automaticity an
appropriate target for instruction for these students?
Why or why not?
31
Assessing Fluency: DIBELS ORF
DIBELS Measure Used to Assess Fluency:
 Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) at the middle of the
year. Interim or progressive benchmarks by grade:
 1st: 20 Correct words per minute
 2nd: 68 Correct words per minute
 3rd: 92 Correct words per minute
32
Assessing Fluency: DIBELS ORF
Examine Student Booklets for Patterns
 How well does the child perform the skill?
 Accuracy
 Fluency
 General reading patterns:
 Not Accurate: student makes many word reading errors or is
provided words after the 3-second wait.
 Accurate but Slow: student reads words with over 90%
accuracy; however, many hesitations and repetitions.
 Fast but Not Accurate: student is fast but makes many word
reading or word substitution errors.
 Fluent Reading: student reads with good speed and accuracy.
33
Assessing Fluency: DIBELS ORF
 When analyzing student performance, look
for patterns:
 Specific word types, sight words, or other
words read correctly and incorrectly.
 Hesitations, self-corrections, repetitions
 Rule out articulation, hearing difficulties, or
having a bad minute!
34
Assessing Fluency: DIBELS ORF
 How easily and quickly does the child
perform the skill?
 How many words did the student read
correctly?
 How many errors did the student make?
 Determine accuracy of reading by dividing
the number of words read correct by total
words read.
 45 words correct / 57 total words = 79%
accurate
35
Assessing Fluency: DIBELS ORF
Terry
 How well is Terry
reading?
 Accurate but slow
 How accurately can he
perform the skill?
 92%!
 Readiness for fluency
instruction?
 Fluency building and
sight word instruction
may be appropriate
36
Assessing Fluency: DIBELS ORF
Dan




How well is Dan reading?
 Making many word reading errors.
 Reads at a slow pace.
How accurately can he perform the
skill? 70%
How easily can he perform the skill?
 Labored approach
Readiness for fluency instruction?
 Intensive instruction in decoding,
irregular word reading, and
advanced word reading.
 Check alphabetic principle skills
with NWF. Automaticity instruction
may be appropriate but with
reading materials he can read
accurately.
37
Application Activity
 Work in small groups to complete two
additional ORF case scenarios to determine
instructional implications.
Is connected text fluency instruction an appropriate
target for instruction for these students? Why or
why not?
38
Application Activity
Using Your Data to Plan for Instruction

Examine the Winter DIBELS benchmark booklets for
each of your students. Complete the following steps for
each student probe on the provided worksheet:
1.
Select measure to examine for whole class (NWF or
ORF)
2. Identify error patterns: specific sounds (e.g., stop vs.
continuous), substitutions, omission, hesitations, vowels,
word types, sight words, decoding strategies etc.
3. Calculate fluency score and accuracy score.
4. Determine instructional implication
 Is the score in the Low Risk, Some Risk or At Risk
range? (see progressive benchmarks on slides 39 &
40)
 Is the performance: Not Accurate, Accurate but Slow,
Fast but Not Accurate, or Fluent
 Determine whether automaticity/fluency instruction is
appropriate
39
Progressive Benchmarks
Is the Student On-Track to Meet End-of-Year Goal?
First Grade Measures
Beginning
Measure
LNF
PSF
NWF
ORF
Score
< 25
25-36
≥ 37
< 10
10-34
≥ 35
< 13
13-23
≥ 24
Status
At risk
Some risk
Low risk
Deficit
Emerging
Established
At risk
Some risk
Low risk
Middle
End
Score
Status
Score
Status
< 10
10-34
≥ 35
< 29
30-49
≥50
<7
8-19
≥ 20
Deficit
Emerging
Established
Deficit
Emerging
Established
At risk
Some risk
Low risk
< 10
10-34
≥ 35
< 29
30-49
≥ 50
< 19
20-39
≥ 40
Deficit
Emerging
Established
Deficit
Emerging
Established
At risk
Some risk
Low risk
40
Progressive Benchmarks
Is the Student On-Track to Meet End-of-Year Goal?
2nd & 3rd Grade ORF Scores
Beginning
Measure
Score
Status
Middle
End
Score
Status
Score
Status
< 70
70-89
≥ 90
At risk
Some risk
Low risk
2nd
Grade
ORF
< 26 At risk
26-43 Some risk
≥ 44 Low risk
< 52
52-67
≥ 68
At risk
Some risk
Low risk
3rd
Grade
ORF
< 53 At risk
53-76 Some risk
≥ 77 Low risk
< 67
67-91
≥ 92
At risk
< 79 At risk
Some risk 80-109 Some risk
Low risk
≥ 110 Low risk
41
Session Objectives
The objectives of today’s session are to:
1.
Define automaticity and fluency, and identify the components of reading
fluency.
2.
Identify what the research tells us about the importance of fluency and
effective fluency instruction.
3.
Determine how to assess automaticity and fluency development and
establish the need for fluency building.
4.
Plan for automaticity and fluency instruction in the classroom:

Select and sequence letter-sounds, words and text to enhance oral
reading fluency.

Set appropriate fluency goals.

Select and deliver instructional strategies to promote automaticity and
fluency in letter sounds, irregular word reading and passage reading.
42
Instructional Components for Automaticity and
Fluency with Connected Text
Automaticity with connected text involves
instruction in building automaticity at the
sound or word level
Fluency with connected text involves instruction in
building fluency within and between sentences
“Fluency may be almost a necessary condition
for good comprehension and enjoyable
reading experiences.” (Nathan & Stanovich, 1991)
43
Determining Readiness for Automaticity
Instruction
Students are ready to practice developing automaticity
with letter-sounds, regular and irregular words when
they can accurately identify some:
 letter-sounds,
 regular words, and
 irregular words
Or when their DIBELS data indicates necessity
44
Guidelines for Selecting Letter-Sounds
and Words for Automaticity Instruction
 Select letter-sounds and words based on priority and utility
(frequently occurring and used in text reading).
 Select letter-sounds and words (both regular and irregular)
students are able to identify accurately. Provide additional
accuracy instruction on letter-sounds and words not identified
accurately.
 Separate highly similar examples: auditory (b, d) and visual (v,
w) on early practice.
 Begin letter-sound instruction with lower case letters and move
to upper case letters as students demonstrate fluency.
45
Automaticity Instruction: Lesson Design
Considerations
 Include multiple examples of each letter sound/word in
the practice set.
 Provide two to three short practice opportunities per day.
 Systematically decrease thin time for answering (3 - 2 – 1
second). Students should be able to respond to each
letter-sound/word within one second.
 Remove letter-sounds/words students identified
accurately and automatically for 2 consecutive weeks.
 Review errors from previous lessons and provide
continued practice with sounds/words students find
difficult.
46
Setting Goals for Automaticity Instruction
2 approaches to setting automaticity goals:
 Program provided
 A final response rate of 1.5 sounds/words per second
is considered an adequate minimum response time
enabling transfer to reading comprehension
(Levy, Abello, & Lysynchuk, 1997)
47
Selecting and Implementing Instructional
Strategies for Automaticity Instruction
 Implement the strategies provided in the core
reading program. Determine:
 if the strategies in the core are appropriate as is.
 if the strategies in the core require enhancement.
 Will the students require additional
activities/games outside of the core to provide
practice and review?
 Will the students require a supplemental or
intervention automaticity program?
48
Letter-Sound Automaticity Example:
The 1 Minute Dash
1.
Identify a set of letter sounds students can correctly
identify.
2. Include multiple cards of each letter in the set.
3. Set a goal (i.e., 30 letter sounds correct).
4. Do a 1-minute small-group practice. Position cards so
all can see.
5. Start the stop watch.
6. Present the first letter so that all students answer
together.
7. Provide quick corrective feedback on errors.
8. Continue presenting letters adjusting the pace of
presentation systematically.
9. Letter-sounds correctly identified go in one pile.
10. Place errors in a second pile.
11. At the end of 1 minute, tally the number correct.
12. Review errors and repeat activity for again.
49
Word Reading Automaticity Examples
1. Paired peer practice. Pair a higher performer with a
child who needs fluency practice. Use similar
procedures as in 1-Minute Dash. Each child may use
his/her set of known but not fluent words.
2. Word recognition grid. Prepare a 5x5 grid of 5 words
students know but need to build automaticity. One
word per row randomly ordered. Include a short review
of words. Then, do a timed recall of the words.
50
Word Reading Example: 5 x 5 Grid
which
around
because
goes
many
because
many
which
around
the
goes
which
many
around
because
many
because
which
goes
around
which
around
many
which
goes
(Modification of Region XIII Texas Educational Service Center)
51
Determining Readiness for Connected Text
Fluency Instruction
Students are ready to practice developing fluency in
connected text when they can:
 rapidly identify letter-sounds, regular words, irregular
words, and read sentences.
 accurately read instructional level connected text.
 correctly read 30-40 words in one minute.
Or when their DIBELS data indicates readiness.
52
Guidelines for Planning for Fluency
Instruction
 Select passages students can read with 90-95%
accuracy.
 Schedule repeated opportunities for students to hear
models of fluent reading and/or practice the passage.
 Set goals for students to improve their fluency.
 Aim to reduce the time and number of errors.
 Incorporate reading with expression once students reach
60 words correct per minute on grade level passages.
 Gradually move from oral to silent reading.
53
Setting Goals
3 approaches to setting fluency goals:
 Program provided
 30% beyond cold reading
 Grade level norms (DIBELS Progressive
Benchmarks)
54
Set Ambitious Goals
• Identify starting words correct per minute (e.g., 30
wcpm minute).
• Identify end of year grade level target (e.g., 90 wcpm)
• Subtract current wcpm from target & determine whether
this is a realistic target (i.e., 60 wcpm is highly
ambitious).
• Set goal and define weekly learning targets (i.e.,
amount of growth/number of instructional weeks).
• Monitor progress over time.
55
ORF Growth Rates Based on Increased
Instructional Supports
Oral Reading Fluency W eekly Progress Data
Number of
Students
Words per Week
Improvement
Minimum
Progress
Maximum
Progress
Grade 1
19
2.10
.35
4.97
Grade 2
25
1.46
.71
4.00
Grade 3
14
1.08
.43
2.43
Grade 4
16
.84
.47
1.41
Grade 5
20
.49
.04
1.12
Grade 6
23
.32
-.22
.97
Fuch s, Fu chs, H am lett , Walz, & G erm an n (1993).
56
Selecting and Implementing Instructional
Strategies for Fluency Instruction
 Implement the strategies provided in the core
reading program. Determine:
 if the strategies in the core are appropriate as is.
 if the strategies in the core require enhancement.
 Will the students require additional
activities/games outside of the core to provide
practice and review?
 Will the students require a supplemental or
intervention fluency program?
57
Connected Text Fluency Instructional
Strategies
 Previewing
 Whole group
 Repeated Reading Strategies
 Small Group: choral reading
 Individual: repeated reading
 Small Group: partner reading
58
Connected Text Fluency Instructional
Strategy: Previewing Strategies
 Increasing the likelihood of students reading with good
accuracy and rate
 Can be used in both reading and content area (i.e., social
studies, science, etc.) instruction
 Preview text and prime background knowledge
 Teach students to preview text and make predictions
about the text before reading

Teacher should model strategies by doing a “think aloud”
procedure (“Look at the title, pictures, …”)
 After preview, teach students to think about what they
already know about the topic and what more they would
like to learn

Teacher should provide a model of effective strategies for
prediction (“I think this story will be about…”
59
Connected Text Fluency Instructional
Strategy: Previewing Strategies
 Preteach words that are difficult to read and
understand:
 Identify words that will be barriers to student
independent reading (e.g., content, vocabulary, etc.)
 Teach difficult words prior to reading within text
 Irregular words
60
Connected Text Fluency Instructional
Strategy: Repeated Reading
1. Not a replacement for beginning reading instruction.
2. Not intended to constitute the reading curriculum.
3. A short duration, frequently scheduled procedure to
increase oral reading fluency.
(modified from Hasbrouck, 1998)
61
Connected Text Fluency Instructional
Strategy: Repeated Reading
Research has demonstrated that repeated
reading strategies:
 Significantly increases reading rate, accuracy, and
comprehension
 Works with older students as well as elementary
children
 Fosters fluent word recognition through multiple
exposures to words
 Encourages rapid decoding and permits greater
attention to understanding the text
 Provides children an opportunity to orally read at a
more fluent level then typical reading instruction allows
62
Connected Text Fluency Instructional Strategy
Repeated Reading Methods
1. Fixed-timed readings (1 minute) in which student
reads the same text repeatedly (e.g., 3 times).
2. Fixed-passage readings (e.g., 100 words) in which
student calculates the time it takes to read the same
100 words on successive trials.
3. Tape-recorded repeated readings.
4. Peer preview.
5. Partner reading.
(modified from Hasbrouck, 1998)
63
Connected Text Fluency Instructional Strategy
Small Group Strategy: Repeated Choral Reading

The 3-Step Process
1. Teacher Reads
2. Teacher and Students
Read Together
3. Students Read

To further increase fluency, prior to reading:
 Pre-teach difficult words (irregular, vocabulary and
decoding)
 Preview text and make predictions
 Carefully select text that students
will be successful at reading (>90%)
Adapted from: http://www.texasreading.org/tcrla/publications/publications.htm
64
Repeated Choral Reading: Expanded Steps
 Teacher reads: Read the passage, modeling good
fluency and expression and running your finger
underneath the words. The students follow along as the
teacher reads.
 Keep a steady pace – Chunk the material length
 Teacher can strategically pause to ensure all are actively reading
along
 Students and teacher read: After hearing the teacher
read, the students read the passage with the teacher
running finger smoothly under the words being read.
 Teacher monitors to correct errors and provide feedback
 Students read: The students read the passage with the
teacher monitoring and providing feedback.
 Correcting errors
 Modeling/Monitoring comprehension by pausing to ask questions
or making predictions
Adapted from: http://www.texasreading.org/tcrla/publications/publications.htm
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Connected Text Fluency Instructional Strategy
Individual Strategy: Repeated Reading

For individual students needing to increase reading
fluency use the following steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Identify short reading passages (approx. 150 words)
students can read with >90% accuracy
Have student read for 1-minute as quickly and accurately
as possible and determine words correct per minute (cold
reading)
Identify and mark a target rate approximately 30% faster
than cold reading
Have student independently reread passage with
timer until they obtain target rate
Teacher repeats step 2 to determine if goal was
determined
Graph progress
(Adapted from Howell & Nolet, 2001)
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Example of Repeated Reading Steps
1. Identify passages
student can read with
high accuracy
2. Collect cold reading
cwpm
3. Determine 30%
increase wpm and mark
4. Student practices
reading outloud with
timer to reach goal
5. Teacher does hot timing
again
6. Monitor and graph
progress
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Ensuring Progress Toward the Benchmark
Performance
Johnny's Reading Progress
Goal: Johnny wll read 60 WRC per minute on 2nd Grade material by February 1
100
Fluency building instruction implemented
90
80
Words Read Correctly
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Nov. 3
Nov. 10
Nov. 17
Nov. 24
Dec. 1
Dec. 9
Dec. 17
Dec. 22
Jan. 6
Jan. 14
Jan. 21
Dates of Progress Monitoring
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Connected Text Fluency Instructional Strategy
Small Group Strategy: Partner Reading
 Time spent orally reading is a good predictor of later
reading achievement
 Peer/partner reading is a simple method to provide children
more opportunities to read and receive feedback on their
reading
 Students enjoy the approach
 Effective at building student fluency in reading
 Provides children a highly structured and engaged
instructional reading opportunity
 There are a variety of strategies/programs available:
 Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT)
 Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS)
 Reciprocal Peer Tutoring (RPT)
 Each program has similar components
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Common Components Across
Partner/Peer Tutoring Approaches
 Incorporated within the regular part of the
reading program
 Completed 2-5 times a week
 Careful selection of reading materials
 Students must be trained on steps of
approach
 Performance pairing of students
 Active reading
 Progress monitoring of all students to adjust
pairing as necessary
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Guidelines for Pairing Students in Partner
Reading
It is not necessary for the highest skilled readers to work
with the students of greatest need. When pairing students
consider the following:
• Rank order students according to reading fluency.
• Split the rank ordered list into the top and bottom halves.
• Pair the top ranked student in the upper half with the top ranked
student in the lower half (i.e., #1 with # 13 if class has 26
students). See Teacher Reports!
• Adjust pairings according to “personality” issues.
• Maintain pairs approximately 4 weeks.
(Modified from Hasbrouck, 1998)
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Guidelines for Partner Reading Activities
1. Teacher needs to select appropriate reading material for
lower skilled student to be successful in reading.
• Create a folder for students including passages and
graphs for each student
• Determine the length of time for the activity and lead
the group to keep pace brisk
2. Teacher needs to model steps of partner reading.
3. The higher performing reader reads first as a model.
4. Both students should have an opportunity to lead the
reading (coaches and players)
5. Teacher should monitor the group in the activity and
reinforce for appropriate behavior.
6. At the end of the activity, have both students summarize
what they just read (e.g., retell, main ideas, characters,
etc.).
7. Periodic progress monitoring to ensure progress and to
readjust pairs.
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How Will I Use this Information In My
Classroom Next Week?
 Which students in my class need fluency
building (see worksheet)?
 Which strategy or approach will I use? Is it
within the core, additional strategies,
enhancing the core, or a supplemental
program?
 What are possible roadblocks and steps
I need to take to make this instructional time
happen (i.e. materials, scheduling, etc.)?
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