Chapter 9 Fluency Assessment Jhanyce A. Acosta

What? * Fluency Assessment -a method of listening to students read aloud in order to gathering their data, such as oral reading accuracy, rate and prosody. * Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) -a way of predicting students reading performance in the present and the future. By doing this, students that are at risk or above average can have instruction modified to fit their needs. * Curriculum Based Measurement -the most common assessment for ORF by helping monitor students reading progress throughout the school year. * Words Correct Per Minute (WCPM) -the ORF score a student gets by reading as many correct words as possible in one minute.

Why? * In order to teach reading fluency successfully, students achievement levels must be measure and their progress must be monitored. * Students who are facing reading problems can receive the necessary assistance to help them reach their reading goal. * Teachers need to be able to gauge the effectiveness of their instruction in fluency; to do this, they need ways to assess student fluency validly and efficiently -Rasinski, 2004

When? * All students, except for 1 st grade, must be assessed at the beginning of the school year to know the level they are currently at. Then, students progress must be monitored at least three times a year. Especially, they can be re-assessed during the fall, spring, and summer. * First graders can be screened during the middle of the school year in order to see how far they have gotten in the reading fluency. * Students that are reading below the expected level should be screened at least one to times a month.

How? * In order to compare student performance with their grade level requirements, teacher should use grade level reading passages instead of the students actual reading level. * Tell the student he/she has one minute to read the following passage. As the student reads, the teacher must be recording the students errors. * Find the ORF score by subtracting the errors from the total words read. Once the score is obtained, it is compared to the students grade level during the time of the year he/she is tested. * The information obtained from the screening must be recorded on the progress graph to monitor the students progress throughout the year. By doing so, the necessary interventions could be made.

Conclusion *Knowing students reading level throughout the year by keeping track if their progress is essential to help them reach the desired reading goal.