Fluency And Accelerated Readers

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Phonemic awareness is a vital role in literacy instruction. Many schools and districts adopt a commercially published basal reading program and it becomes the cornerstone of their instruction ( (David Chard, n.d.). We also know that through investigation and research it has shown us that word-recognition instruction and instruction in oral language skills related to word recognition were inadequately represented. (David Chard, n.d.) The same researchers have found that the reading passages that students are reading didn’t relate to the words they were learning. In order for students to read at grade level or above a supplemental program should be implemented. I have found that at my school we are lacking a phonics program that will reach different students abilities and make them successful in reading. My goal for this paper is to show my district that using a supplemental phonics program aside from our basal phonics program will prove beneficial to strategic readers who fall below grade level.

Addison read a narrative and an expository passage at Level P, “Plenty of Pets” a narrative passage and then an expository passage, “Animal Instincts”. Addison read both passages with 96% and 99% accuracy respectively. She scored satisfactory on both passages. When reading Level Q, she read a nonfiction passage, “Not Too Cold for a Polar Bear” with 97% accuracy and excellent comprehension. At Level R, she read with 95% accuracy and satisfactory for comprehension, although it is deliberate and arduous. However, when Addison read a narrative and expository text Level S, “Could Be Worse” and “Amazing Animal Adaptations”, reading both passages below 95% accuracy. When considering a fluency score, Addison primarily reads in three and four word groups, however it is not smooth and lacks expression with a slow rate most of the time. Aimweb progress monitoring data were considered to determine Addison’s correct word per minutes. According to the data, Addison’s word recognition skills significantly impacts her ability to read fluently, thus causing frustration. She is currently being progressed monitored at a third grade level, indicating she falls near the thirty third percentile when compared to third grade students nationally, reading a median of 109 correct words per minute.

The Fry Sight-Word Inventory is an informal, criterion-referenced screener which measures high-frequency word achievement. Fry 's Instant Words have been determined as the most common words used in English ranked in order of frequency. Specifically, Fry found that twenty-five words make up approximately a third of all items published, one-hundred words comprise almost half of all of the words found in publications, and three-hundred words make up approximately sixty-five percent of all written material. The first three-hundred words on Fry’s list should be mastered by the end of corresponding grade levels, and lists four through ten should be mastered between fourth and fifth grades. Each hundred words are broken down even further into twenty-five words per list, according to difficulty and frequency, and should be assessed sequentially. The goal of progress monitoring high-frequency word mastery is to increase fluency on high-frequency words in order to further automaticity within our students’ reading, which ultimately impacts overall comprehension.

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information which is essential in being a productive member of society. If and when a student missed an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for reading, it’s has a profound impact on their lives. As educators we realize that teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction. We are also aware that children, who are struggling with reading must receive

Reading fluency is considered an integral component of the reading process and it has a big presence in the classroom. Its importance became evident since the National Reading Panel (2000) pronounced fluency instruction and assessment an essential and was thus incorporated into the reading First guidelines of No Child Left Behind in 2002 (Shelton, Altwerger, &Jordan, 2009). Reading fluency has been defined in many ways; an outcome of decoding and comprehension, a contributor to both decoding and comprehension, the ability to recognize words rapidly and accurately, the connections

The study that I reviewed for the fluency evidence based practice was conducted in an alternative high school in the Southeast. The students that were involved in the study attended sessions that were mediated by their peers three times a week for 45 minutes. The sessions were held in a study hall type classroom that was structured in that the environment was conducive to helping increase the fluency skills of these struggling readers. This was a focus class that had certain guidelines for being a part of. The students were enrolled in this class if they received a grade level of six or below on the Test of Adult Basic Education assessment. The other requirements for this class were as follows: current reading scores between levels 4.0 to 7.0 as determined by the TOWRE (Test of Word Reading

The article is titled “A Comparison of Two Flashcard Drill Methods Targeting Word Recognition” and it is written by Robert J. Volpe, Christina M. Mule, Amy M. Briesch, Laurice M. Joseph, and Matthew K. Burns. One important early literacy skill that plays an important role in reading development is sight word recognition. The authors define sight word recognition as “the development of automatic or effortless word reading that typically requires repeated practice” (Volpe, Mule, Briesch, Joseph, & Burns, 2011). The authors research two different repeated practice methods of using flashcards drills. There are designed to help improve word recognition skills of struggling readers. They include traditional drill and practice (TD) and incremental rehearsal (IR). The purpose of the study is to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of the two methods. TD is a technique that uses flashcards of words that are all unknown to the student. IR is a method in which unknown words are presented incrementally. This means that once the administer presents the unknown word five to nine times, that word becomes the first known word in the sequence. This allows the student to get many opportunities to practice the word. The participants of the study include four children who were all six years old and in the first grade. All children were referred because of word reading difficulties. Two graduate students in the School of Psychology administered the different flashcards methods. Two other

However, among all of these reading skills that are traditionally evaluated, the one that appears to be strongest predictor of their later reading and spelling abilities is letter identification. The reason behind it is knowing letter names is strongly related to children’s ability to remember the forms of written words and their ability to treat words as sequences of letters. In order to have fun fluency with letter identification, they must be able identify letter names in and out of context and sequence. It is not just accuracy of letter recognition, but the automaticity that comes from practice and familiarity, that contribute to eventual reading success. This proves just how important for children to succeed in letter recognition at the beginning of their academic career.

I am going to use repeated reading for my fluency strategy. Repeated reading is a teaching technique that is used to increase oral reading fluency. During repeated reading exercise students are given many opportunities to practice reading and rereading short text (50-300 words) in order to reach a specific fluency goal (about 95% accuracy). Repeated Reading uses repeated guided oral reading practice to improve reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension. Repeated Reading is executed in a one-on-one setting with a teacher and student, but can also be utilized in peer partnerships and integrated into daily oral reading activities in the classroom. Repeated reading has many benefits such as: boosts comprehension; cultivates fluency; develops decoding

For a child who is just starting to learn to read, they need sufficient practice in reading a variety of different books to achieve fluency. Reading can be complex and has many different aspects (Burns,1999). It is suggested that children who have problems reading and writing at a young age will find it hard to catch up as they get older and will not reach their full potential as adults, many will withdraw from school or society and some becoming involved with crime (MacBlain,2014). 40 percent of children find learning to read a challenge but with early help, most reading problems can be prevented (Reading Rockets, n.d.).

Fluency is an important key idea in reading.. Fluency means that students can read with at least 95% accuracy in identifying words and sounds. Fluency is important in reading because it will be used as a base in having students identify new words when reading. Fluency is not only important in reading, but in writing as well. When working with my tutee I have noticed that while she can read the text well, when it comes down to writing key words or vocabulary from the text she has trouble. She can correctly identify the sounds the word makes, but not spell them correctly. Fluency is important to master for new students, because then when they are reading new texts they can identify similar words and key phonemes.

Many students around the United States have reading difficulties, which can be due to a variety of reason such as: low socioeconomic status, family history of learning disabilities, a neurological disorder, limited exposure, etc. Reading difficulties can lead to further problems with education and learning, therefore the struggles should be addressed and intervention techniques should be implemented promptly. The interventions need to be individualized for the student based on their needs in order to improve the student’s reading to the best of their abilities.

Many students are passed on through the education system without having proper reading skills. These skills consist of fluency, comprehension, and phonemic awareness. Reading skills are foundational building blocks for elementary aged students. Students who lack proper reading skills, such as fluency or the rate in which they read, will ultimately lack comprehension of what they are reading due to the amount of time in which it takes the students to read. This leads to the question, how does fifth grade students lack of fluency affect his or her reading comprehension? Unfortunately, because reading skills taught in kindergarten and first grade focus mainly on phonemic

Learning to read is one of the most foundational skills needed for educational success. As children learn to read they develop the ability to decode, interpret, and store information from what they are reading. Reading comprehension allows a child to gain meaning from text and decoding allows a child to process sounds into words. Reading is vital to educational success because it allows a student to learn new information and build upon their prior knowledge. Students who attain reading skills are more likely to achieve academic success while students who have reading difficulties are likely to struggle academically and fall behind their peers. Reading difficulties have been prominent within the US for years. For example, the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress statistics shows that only about 33% of fourth graders are at or above proficient at reading (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2011). Studies show that the cause of reading difficulties is based primarily on genes, environment, and instructional experience (Vellutino, Fletcher, Snowling, Scanlon, 2004). Students with a language learning disorder have difficulty comprehending spoken and written language thus making it difficult to learn new information. Children with reading disabilities are more likely to struggle during elementary school years as students are asked to think about what they read more critically. Speech language pathologists and teachers can help