Developed by Becky Smith, Debbie Stanley, and David Jackson Improving Fluency Citrus: Literacy, Learners, & Leaders Developed by Becky Smith, Debbie Stanley, and David Jackson Fluency is crucial to reading success, yet in 1983 in The Reading Teacher Allington described fluency as the most neglected reading skill. One of the best ways to improve fluency is to model fluent reading. That’s why we started this session by reading aloud. It needs to be a daily occurrence.

Literacy is… using multiple symbol systems Listening Viewing Speaking Thinking Reading Writing Expressing using multiple symbol systems Literacy involves all of these. These need to be addressed in every class every day.

Daily Non-negotiables Maintain a print-rich classroom Use the seven processes of literacy Read to and with students Teach,model,practice strategies of expert readers and writers Provide independent reading with accountability Instruct phonics & phonemic awareness for K-1, and for others who have reached mastery. These daily non-negotiables are a county-wide emphasis. You’ll see a similar slide in all of the county’s literacy training modules. We need to plan our lessons so that all of these happen in every class every day.

What is fluency? Reading with … Pace Accuracy Prosody Pace, accuracy, and expression help readers achieve automaticity. Automaticity in decoding allows readers to concentrate on meaning. Without automaticity, students use most of their mental energy decoding the text, leaving little for comprehending it. …resulting in automaticity

Why is fluency important? Fluent readers have better comprehension Fluent readers perform better in content areas Fluent readers score higher on FCAT Fluent readers read for fun Because reading is easy for fluent readers, they are the ones who read, practice and get better. The reading gap widens between fluent and non-fluent readers as they get older.

Citrus County Schools, Florida FCRR Study The Florida Center for Reading Research recently conducted a study of the FCAT to answer several important questions: What are the reading, language, and cognitive abilities that are most important in explaining individual differences in performance on the FCAT at 3rd, 7th, and 10th grades? The next two slides are from that study. What kinds of skills and knowledge are particularly low in students who struggle on the FCAT? Citrus County Schools, Florida

7th Grade 51% 43% 22% 5% 60 50 Percent of variance accounted for 40 30 Fluency 60 Verbal Abilities Non Verbal Memory 50 40 7th Grade 51% Percent of variance accounted for 30 43% 20 FCRR concluded that fluency and verbal abilities (verbal knowledge & reasoning) are equally important factors in determining variance in FCAT scores among 7th graders. 22% 10 5%

What skills are particularly deficient in level 1 and level 2 readers at 7th grade? Skill/ability FCAT Performance Level 1 2 3 4 5 WPM on FCAT 88 113 122 144 156 Fluency percentile 7th 25th 45th 82th 95th Phonemic decoding 27th 53rd 53rd 74th 84th The study specifically looked for skills that were particularly low in kids who struggle on the FCAT. Look at fluency. Notice Level 1’s are very low in fluency; Level 5’s are very high. Verbal knowledge/ reasoning 34th 45th 64th 88th 93rd SAT9 percentile 31st 51st 68th 86th 94th

Fluency and comprehension Shinn (1992), reviewing twenty-eight studies, found a median correlation of 0.82 Fuchs (1988), focusing on middle school, found a correlation of 0.91 Currently, fluency (WCPM) is our best predictor of how a student will perform on FCAT.

Citrus County Schools, Florida FCRR suggests that 80% of the students at Low Risk (green) will score a 3 or higher on the FCAT. High Risk (red) kids often can’t finish the FCAT, and if they stay High Risk through middle school, will probably never be competent readers. On the other hand, in 2000 Mercer, et al., found that many struggling older readers are capable of rapid progress if given instruction that includes oral reading fluency practice and progress monitoring. Citrus County Schools, Florida

How do we assess fluency? DIBELS Elementary FORF Middle School High School Your reading coach will have much useful information on your struggling readers.

Basic Procedures for WCPM Provide two copies of a grade-level text Mark the place ] after one minute Mark errors / (skipped words, mispronunciations, substitutions, reversed order, struggles lasting three seconds)* Count the Words Correct Per Minute *Don’t count self-corrections, insertions, or correct repetitions as errors. Determining a student’s fluency is easy.

How do we improve fluency? Teacher model Partner reading Reader’s theater Student presentations Listening & recording Choral reading Echo reading Match student with text Chart results to motivate The only way to improve fluency is to practice. Here are a few of many effective ways to improve fluency. These are appropriate for any subject area. (Two handouts:Techniques for Improving Fluency and Multidimensional Fluency Scale) Be prepared to define each of these practices and give an example, if necessary.

Partner Reading Practice Pair students Provide appropriate text Read for one minute Chart results Let’s practice one simple strategy. One way to organize partner reading practice is to pair a stronger reader with a weaker reader, and then match the text to the weaker reader. One partner reads for one minute while the other partner notes mistakes. At the end of a minute, they calculate and chart WCPM. Then they reverse roles. Often this is done until each partner has read the passage two or even three times, charting the best score. (Three handouts: Basic Procedures for WCPM, Growth Hormone, and Blank WCPM Graph)

Matching student with text Independent > 94% accuracy Instructional 90-94% Frustration < 90% Lexile match / Fountas & Pinnell By listening to a student read and asking a question or two about what he has read, you can determine whether or not a book is appropriate. Running records are an excellent way to do this. Your reading coach can also help you match student with text. Finding appropriate material can be time consuming, but it is important. If kids are to improve their fluency, they need to practice with text they can handle. (Two handouts: Calculate the Percent Accuracy Level and A Closer Look at Reading Levels)

3-2-1 Evaluation