Fluency

Reading fluency strongly contributes to a child's overall reading success. Fluency is often thought of as a person's speed during reading, however there are several components to fluency including: automaticity, phrasing and expression, and rate.

DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Subtest
This test is useful at any age level to indicate whether a child is at low, moderate, or high risk in reading fluency. The test consists of a student reading aloud a passage for one minute while the teacher records the number of words read accurately. The teacher can compare the student's performance to a target score. This test can be downloaded free of charge at http://www.dibels.uoregon.edu

Running Records and Benchmarks Books
These are both informal assessments that the teacher can easily use in the classroom to assess fluency. A running record involves recording and analyzing a child's reading behaviors and strategies during oral reading. The teacher does not correct the child, however if the child struggles with a word for more than four seconds the teacher can tell the child what the word is. Benchmark books are a variety of books at varying difficulty levels that the teacher has the student read to determine their current reading level. As the child's accuracy improves, the texts become more difficult.

Instructional Approaches for Building Fluency
The best way to improve a child's fluency is to give them ample amount of time to read! It sounds simple, but it's true. However, much of this time spent reading needs to be done in small-teacher led groups where active learning and teaching can take place. Teachers also need to provide explicit teaching in oral reading fluency. Research has shown that teacher-guided oral reading is directly linked with increased fluency in children (National Reading Panel, 2000).