Chapter 9 - Fluency Assessment

Bill Cairns

“Because reading is so critical to success in and out of school and because many students struggle with fluent

reading, fluency should be assed often. Effective fluency assessment provide information that will guide instruction

and improve student outcomes”(Hosp, Hosp, and Howell 2007)

Fluency Assessments consists of:1. Listening to students read aloud2. Collecting information on oral reading

accuracy, rate, and prosody.

Hints to successful reading fluency assessment• Provide reliable and consistent scores,

regardless who administers the assessment.• Should provide valid, meaningful data for

making instructional decisions.• Assessment should be efficient in

administration, scoring, and interpretation.• “Should be quick and easy to use as possible,

or teachers may not find time do use them” (Tim Rasinski, 2004)

Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is

the most commonly used assessment tool for measuring ORF.

ORF is a good predicator of future reading performance.

Value of Oral Reading Fluency- Curriculum-Based Measurement

Identify students at risk of reading failure.Identify students not making adequate

progress with the current given instructions.Identify student’s instructional levelIndentify students who need additional

diagnostic evaluation.

Conducting an ORF CBM AssessmentListen for one (1) minute as a student reads

aloud from an unpracticed, grade level passage.Count words read during the one minute (Rate)Count the number of errors the student made

(Accuracy)ORF is expressed as Words Correct Per Minute

(WCPM)ORF Score = (total words read – errors)

Example: 84 words – 2 errors = 82 WCPM

Other ORF Research suggests the Maze CBM for

grades 4 and above is a more reliable predicator of future reading performance. (Hosp et al. 2007)

Prosodic Reading measures the expressiveness of a students oral speech.

Maze Curriculum-Based Measurement SampleStudent reads silently a passage and about

every seventh word, they choose from a possible three (3) words, the word that best fits in the sentence.

This assessment is done independently and administered for two minutes.

Assessment of Prosodic ReadingTeacher listens and assesses the student’s

oral reading, and then compares it to a National assessment.

Assessment focus is on stress, phrasing, intonation expression, and pauses

The Prosody Assessment Rating Scale can be found on Page 334.

Prosodic Reading Key Vocabulary Stress - How student emphasize various words.Phrasing - Length of pauses between phrases.Intonation - How student uses end-mark

punctuation to guide their voice expression. Expression - Does their vocal tone accurately

represent character’s mental state? Pauses - Does student pause for punctuations;

commas and end marks.

Setting Expectations using ORFORF norms and weekly rates are good

standards to use in comparing students’ performance and measuring progress.

Establishing Individual Weekly Growth Rates for students can allow parents, teachers, and students to have a common focus for success and improvement.

Identifying Students at RiskCharting students goals and progress

provides teachers data to evaluate if the instruction the student is receiving is sufficient or if it needs to be adjusted.

How do I determine if the student is a Dysfluent Reader?

Diagnosis of Dysfluent ReadingDysfluent Reading is when a student is below

expected level of reading or not making sufficient progress.

Students deemed a Dysfluent Reader will require that more data be collected.

Common causes of a Dysfluent Reader are: phonemic awareness, decoding, vocabulary language syntax, and content knowledge.

See Possible Causes of Dysfluency chart on Page 335.

Key VocabularyPhonemic Awareness – the ability to detect,

identify, and manipulate phonemes in spoken words

Decoding –converting a word from print to speech

Vocabulary Language Syntax – correctly understanding the placement and context of the vocabulary terms used

Content Knowledge – having enough background knowledge to understand the text being read

Summary Assessing students Oral Reading Fluency

provides valuable data to support teachers in their instructional decisions.

Oral Reading Fluency assessments should be made frequently and charted to give maximum support to teachers and students.

Listen to students read aloud and determine ORF score.

Focus on and chart student progress in the following areas: Rate, Accuracy, Prosody.

Modify instruction as needed to increase student success.