The Importance Of Fluency Instruction For Reading Comprehension

The baseline data was established using the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System (BAS). This test assesses reading comprehension through the process of students reading a text at the appropriate instructional reading level and answering comprehension questions. This assessment tool measures students' ability for accuracy, self correction, fluency, comprehension, and writing. An overall level score is given through a letter identification, A-Z. For the baseline data purpose the letters A-Z were numbered off 1-26 to give the students' scores an adequate numerical score. The assessment determines whether students exceed expectations, meet expectations, approaches expectations, or does not meet expectation. A third-grade student at the

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:

The type of assessment tool that would be used to measure students’ fluency is DIEBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF). The target intervention for the four students is improving their reading fluency to a 2nd grade level. DORF is a standardized test that measures student performance of reading word from the grade level by being timed for 1 minute. Students are instructed to read a passage as best as they can while the teacher is monitoring how many WPM they can read accurately in 1 minute. DORF also asks students to describe what they just read to allow a more accurate *** of students level or reading and avoid students reading quickly because they know they are being timed. (**p.32-33). The selecting of DIEBELS DORF was selected based on the

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

This semester I was given the opportunity to administer five different reading assessments to three different students. I had a student who was struggling, Brayden, a student who was on level, Tayanna, and a student who was above grade level, Josiah. Through this experience, I learned how to administer different assessments as well as what to look for to best help a student learn to read. In addition, I found things that were valuable in the assessment; however, I also ran into struggles while using the assessments. Conducting these gave me a better understanding of the use of reading assessments in the classroom. As I reflect on this experience, I can see that my overall understanding of reading assessments have definitely expanded.

Back to school reading in the primary grades usually begins in the classroom assessment, and part of a formal reading assessment includes reading fluency. Teachers strive for students to read grade-level texts throughout the year with purpose and understanding. Testing students in reading by using a variety of formal assessments, such as DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) or PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) provides a little insight into how well students read, but there is usually only one or two reading passages used. Fluency is one area that is extremely important, but seldom practiced because most students read independently to themselves. Together with phrasing, expression and punctuation, pace is can be evaluated by teachers in small group guided reading lessons. Students are given an opportunity to read out-loud in front of their teacher and their peers, but often will not receive daily practice with fluency everyday.

The problem is students in the middle school grades are not performing on grade level in reading fluency and comprehension benchmark assessments prior to the state assessment given in the spring. Also exploring more factors that can contribute to achievement gaps such as peer pressure, student tracking, negative stereotyping, and test bias go along with the gap being more than half the struggling readers.

Designing an individual intervention to increase reading fluency requires completion of assessments that will determine the child’s reading strengths and weaknesses. An inaccurate reader needs direct instruction on improving word recognition, which may include sight words and decodable words (which rules is the student not applying) at their instructional level. Once the goals have been established, in this case fluency, the intervention will begin with an introduction on fluency and word recognition.

Performance Activity 47: Giving an informal reading assessment, BRI, impacts student learning by how I will evaluate results to determine how to plan effective instructional plans, if I were a teacher. As part of my BRI project, I have to administer all four sections of the BRI, evaluate the student’s results, and write up activities and instructional plans I would enforce to help the student enhance areas of improvements. For example, I have noticed when the student orally reads, she tends to repeat words while reading; while this does not significantly impact the flow of her reading, it can affect how she comprehensions the text and how many words per minute she can read. When answering comprehension questions the types of questions she misses, the most often, are

In this proposed study the researcher looked at techniques that can possibly in-crease fluency, and general academic achievement, among students who are struggling academically. By using existing resources, the school could implement this program without cutting into the schools budget. Throughout the history of the

Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression. Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. Struggling readers often have a hard time reading because they see unfamiliar words, they may lack comprehension skills or the motivation to read. The study I proposed inspects whether or not students reading fluency will improve due to an increase of sight word recognition activities, motivation and participating in the Accelerated Reader program. This study will include fifteen second grade students within a general education classroom. All twenty-five students within the classroom will receive the intervention, but data will be collected on two small groups with

Reading is one of the most beneficial activities a man can do. Out of reading, man can be able to discover new things, concepts, places and people. More so, reading is a way to relax our mind and soul, going deeply through the world of story and improves our thinking and internalization process.

The failure of students being able to read and comprehend what they are reading is a great concern for most schools. When students enter the fifth grade and are not on grade level, they are already behind their classmates. Teachers are then responsible for remediating the students to get them on grade level. Unfortunately, these same students are unable to keep up with on grade level standards teachers are required to teach, because they lack the skills needed. These students will continue to struggle throughout their education because they will not be able to catch up to their grade level. Many educators have realized there is a gap between fluency and comprehension. Because of this realization, special instruction such as guided reading and remedial teaching has been implemented.

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