Fluency Assessment Module 2 Welcome to the second module of Fluency Matters. Today we will be discussing fluency assessment.

Quick Review Fluency is: Accurate word reading Automaticity of underlying skills Prosody (expression) Deep understanding (the outcome of reading fluently) Before we get started, let’s go over a few main points from module I. In our last module we came up with a definition for fluent reading. We learned that our definition should consist of four important elements. First, we know that fluent readers are accurate. They are able to decode words accurately. Second, they are automatic in decoding and word recognition. Subskills such as letter knowledge, phoneme awareness, sight word learning, phoneme-grapheme correspondence (matching sounds to symbols), and understanding word meanings happen without much concentrated effort and at a good pace. Third, fluent readers read with expression and attend to punctuation, and fourth, when all these components are working together, the reader’s mind will be able to focus on comprehension or understanding the message of what is being read.

Learning Target #1 Participants will understand what fluency assessment is and why it is important. Today we will be discussing fluency assessment and why it’s important.

What do you know about your students? Strengths Weaknesses Reading Level Progress Is the instruction impacting the student? In his book The Fluent Reader, Timothy Rasinski said, “If you want to provide the best instruction for your students, you have to know their strengths and weaknesses. You have to know the level at which they are reading. And, you have to track their progress to know whether your instruction is having an impact.

Assessing Reading Assessing is listening and observing. Reading is difficult to observe. (Rasinski, 2010) Assessing is a form of listening and observing. It’s difficult for us to see what’s going on when a child reads because we can’t see what’s happening inside the brain. Even with recent brain imaging showing what happens during reading, it still doesn’t tell us the best way to teach reading.

Purposes of Fluency Assessment What is the instructional level for word identification? How well is this student comprehending? At what reading level is this student fluent? (Caldwell, 2014) A teacher or coach needs to know at what level a student demonstrates fluency and in what kind of text. A student may be at an instructional level for word identification and comprehension, but may still lack fluency. Some reading level tests measure accuracy and word identification to determine the reading level of a student. Accuracy with words is very important for fluent reading but we know that it is only one component. Students also need to be assessed on reading with appropriate speed and expression and their fluency progress must be monitored to make sure they are improving.

In most cases… We don’t assess during the reading process. We assess what happens after the reading takes place. The actual process of reading is hidden within the reader. (Rasinski, 2010) (Read the slide.) For example, during standardized testing, we ask students to read passages silently and then answer questions, write summaries or responses after completing the reading. The student’s achievement is determined by the number and quality of responses. We don’t actually see or hear the process of reading.

Oral reading allows us to see… The process of reading Strengths and weaknesses in word recognition Fluency The types of corrections made for decoding and comprehension The quality of oral reading (Rasinski, 2010) However, when we listen to a student read orally, we are able to tune in while the reading process is actually happening. During this time we can hear word errors, non-fluent reading, and the way the student utilizes strategies for both decoding and comprehension. We can see the overall quality of reading as it is taking place. Let’s take a look at some of the sub-components of fluent reading and how oral reading can be used to assess each of these aspects of reading.

Learning Target #2 Participants will learn how to assess accuracy, one of the components of fluency. The first subskill we will address is accuracy.

Levels of Word Recognition Instructional Level: 90% to 98% accuracy while reading text = instructional level Instructional level-most likely to make the best progress in reading Independent Level: 99% to 100% accuracy = independent level Text can be read without assistance Frustration Level: Below 90% accuracy = frustration level More than 10 errors in a 100 word passage-the text is probably too difficult Fluent reading demands a certain level of accuracy in reading words. Adequate decoding is usually within the range of 90 to 98 percent accuracy while reading continuous text. This range is usually referred to as the instructional level, the level that students can read with assistance. This is the level that the reader will likely progress because text isn’t too easy or too difficult. If a student can read a text with 99 to 100% accuracy, the text is probably at independent level. The student won’t need support with their reading at this level. Once a student begins to make more than10 errors in a 100 word passage, the text will likely be at frustration level. The student will probably not be able to comprehend what is happening in the text because of the number of word errors.

Be careful to look at all the factors! Bad day Feeling ill Lack of interest in the topic Limited knowledge of the topic Unfamiliar vocabulary Keep in mind that the word recognition scores you obtain can vary because of a number of reasons. The student may be having a bad day or feeling ill. The student may also not be familiar with or interested in the topic. For example, A student might be given a passage on cross stitch and score at frustration level because the student has never seen or heard of cross stitch and has no interest in knowing anything about it. The same student could be asked to read a passage on baseball that is the same level as the cross stitch passage. The student happens to play baseball, has attended baseball games, and enjoys reading stories about sports. Chances are, the student will score much better on the baseball passage because of experiences with the vocabulary and interest in the topic rather than ability to decode the words. If you feel uncomfortable with the assessment, try again another day with a different passage.

Determining Reading Fluency Formal or informal assessments can be used to determine fluency levels. Grade level passages for assessment can be taken from classroom curriculum or published assessments. (www.prel.org) Teachers can use both informal and formal assessments to determine a student’s levels of fluency and to gauge progress. For both kinds of assessment, teachers can use grade level materials used in the classroom or they can use published assessment passages.

Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) A leveled set of word lists A leveled set of graded passages Comprehension questions 90%-98% = instructional level One informal method of assessing accuracy, which is the first component of fluency, is the Informal Reading Inventory. A student’s word recognition accuracy and overall reading level can be determined with this assessment tool. There are many IRIs that you can purchase but all of them have the same basic features; a leveled set or word lists and passages with comprehension questions. The passages have been benchmarked to represent specific grade levels. The level at which the student reads with 90 to 98 percent accuracy with adequate comprehension, is considered his or her instructional reading level.

IRI Quiz Jane and Jeff are 4th grade students who were given an informal reading inventory. Jane read the 3rd grade passage with 99% word rec. accuracy and the fourth grade passage with 96% accuracy. Jeff read the 3rd grade passage with 94% word rec. accuracy and the fourth grade passage with 88% accuracy. What does this tell you about their word recognition accuracy? Take a minute and read this slide and think about what it tells you about the two students’ word recognition. (Wait about a min. for participants to think about the question.) Jane is right where she should be as far as word recognition goes. Jeff is making many errors on the 4th grade passage so he will likely have a difficult time comprehending grade level material without a great deal of support.

Pros and Cons of an IRI What are the reasons you should use Informal reading inventories? What are the negative features of this type of assessment? (Read the questions on the slide. Put the participants into breakout sessions to discuss. Some pro examples teacher might come up with: To get an instructional reading level, to assess word recognition, to see if a student is comprehending, allows time for the teacher to listen to a student read orally on different levels of text. Some con examples could be: very time consuming, assesses accuracy and comp but not automaticity and prosody. If they don’t come up with these answers, make sure to present them to the group.)

Learning Target #3 Participants will learn how to assess automaticity, one of the components of fluency. Along with assessing accuracy, we need to assess automaticity. Let’s take a look at some ways that this can be done.

Formal Fluency Assessment Timed grade-level passages read orally Cold read (unpracticed) 1 minute passages Teacher follows and marks errors on a copy of the passage (www.prel.org) Knowing that an informal assessment does not address all the components of fluency, we should consider a more formal way of assessing fluency, one that not only addresses word recognition but also addresses automaticity in word recognition. A formal assessment not only consists of passages being read and accuracy being evaluated, the passages are also timed so that a student’s reading rate or the number of words read per minute can be determined. In other words, we consider the number of words that are decoded effortlessly or automatically, as well as correctly. Some features of formal fluency assessment are: (read slide).

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) CBM—the measure most often used to screen and monitor progress on reading proficiency. CBMs are used at the beginning of the school year , when students are screened in relation to an end-of-year goal. Student progress is monitored with CBMs. The formal measures most often used to look at reading proficiency and progress are known as curriculum-based measures or CBMs. CBMs are used at the beginning of the school year when students are screened in relation to a goal they should achieve by the end of the school year. In addition, student progress is monitored with CBMs, which allows teachers to determine whether skills are being acquired at an adequate pace or rate so that targeted goals can be met by the end of the school year.

Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) Oral reading fluency is a type of CBM. ORF measures and other CBMs have the following characteristics: Reliable and valid results Standardized tasks Passages can be drawn from instructional materials (should be calibrated to match other standardized passages) Requirements for administration and scoring are specific for reliability and validity Oral reading fluency is a type of curriculum-based measurement. Curriculum-based measures including oral reading fluency are based on performance tasks that are similar to the tasks that you would expect to see in a classroom. For example, reading aloud would be considered a component of classroom instruction so that’s why oral reading fluency would be considered as a type of CBM. ORF measures and other CBMs have the following characteristics: Reliable and valid results, unlike many informal measures. The tasks are standardized. Stimulus materials such as a reading passage can be drawn from instructional materials but they should be calibrated to match other standardized materials. There are specific requirements for administration and scoring in order to maintain reliability and validity and to develop norms. If we choose to change the instructions or the wording used for administration, the assessment will no longer be standardized, therefore, loosing its reliability and validity.

Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) Scores are obtained in a specified time period Performance is repeatedly sampled across time Easy to administer They are efficient (1-3 min.) (Moats, 2009) Scores are obtained in a specified time period with performance repeatedly sampled across time with different but equivalent stimulus materials. They are easy to administer so that a variety of professionals, paras, and parents can learn the procedures. They are also efficient to administer, usually taking only 1 to 3 minutes.

Errors The boy ran quickly. Substitutions The boy ran quietly. Mispronunciations The boy rand quickly. Omissions The boy ran. Reversals The boy quickly ran. Hesitations The boy ran…(3 sec.) When administering an Oral Reading Fluency Assessment, the teacher sets the timer for 1 min. and listens to the student read a grade level passage. The teacher slashes errors. Errors consist of, substitutions, mispronunciations, omissions, reversals, and hesitations that last for more than three seconds. For example…(read slide). Insertions and repetitions are not counted as errors because the extra time required for students to add words or to repeat words increases the total reading time which counts against them.

Calculating Words Correct Per Minute Total words correct in one minute – errors = WCPM (fluency score) Scores are compared to fluency norms Norms are considered benchmark and indicate that students reading at the 50th percentile for their grade level are able to comprehend grade-level text. Norms can be used to set fluency goals. Remember, fluency is not just speed and accuracy, but speed and accuracy to support comprehension. (www.prel.org) At the end of one minute, the teacher determines the student’s reading fluency level by taking the total number of words per minute and subtracting the errors. By subtracting the errors we are able to assess accuracy and rate. The words correct per minute represent the student’s fluency score. The norms indicate that students reading at the 50th percentile for their grade level are able to comprehend grade-level texts with few problems.

National ORF Norms 50th Percentiles Hasbrouck & Tindal (2006) Grade Fall WCPM Winter WCPM Spring WCPM 1 23 53 2 51 72 89 3 71 92 107 4 94 112 123 5 110 127 139 6 140 150 7 128 136 8 133 146 151 This chart shows the words correct per minute at the 50th percentile for grades 1-8. You can see how much growth the students will be expected to make from fall to spring if we want them to progress at the same rate as their grade-level peers.

Here you can see the different scores for each of the percentiles Here you can see the different scores for each of the percentiles. These norms indicate that students reading at the 50th percentile for their grade level are able to comprehend grade-level texts with few problems. If they score in the 75th percentile, they are likely to have excellent comprehension and word recognition. If they score below, they are likely to have problems in these areas. Fluency norms can also be used to set fluency goals based on the needs of the students at all levels.

Advantages of CBMs Over Other Oral Reading Probes Students read aloud from grade-appropriate text to evaluate their success in reading classroom texts making it more in accord with the CCSS. Probes are 1 minute making it easier to calculate the WCPM. The process for calculating longer passages: Percent Accuracy = # of words read correctly divided by total # of words WCPM = # of words read correctly divided by total reading time (Caldwell, 2014) In curriculum-based measurement, students read aloud from grade-appropriate passages for 1 minute in order to evaluate the extent to which students are successful in reading their classroom text. This differs from other reading probes in which the students are reading independent or instructional level materials that may not be on grade-level. CBM is more in accord with the grade-level focus of the Common Core State Standards. The CBM will identify students who are performing below the level of their classmates and inform the teacher of progress by administering them frequently throughout the year.

Timed Word Lists Students are evaluated on automatic verses correct but not automatic words. Words that are not automatic but correct still need analysis by the student in order to read. The assessment will show if students have a sight-word vocabulary necessary for fluent reading. A student’s ability to identify single words automatically can be assessed through timed administration of a word list. The student is evaluated on whether he or she identifies each word immediately or with a pause. A pause may indicate that a word is not yet automatic and needs analysis in order to identify it. The teacher can mark the response with an A for automatic if the word is read in a second or less and a C if the word is correct but not automatic. Compare the number of correct words to the automatic words. If correct words are greater than automatic words then the student may lack a sight-word vocabulary necessary for fluent reading.

Learning Target #4 Participants will learn how to assess prosody, one of the components of fluency.

Assessing Prosody Good oral readers are expressive. Their performance is pleasing to an audience. Students read aloud as the teacher scores their reading on a descriptive rubric or rating scale. The focus of scoring is on reading with expression. (Caldwell, 2014, Rasinski, 2010) Good readers are accurate and automatic in their identification of words. Marking oral reading errors indicates reading accuracy; determining reading rate and the timed administration of word lists suggest reading speed. But what about the third component of fluency known as prosody or intonation? Good oral readers are expressive. Their performance is pleasing to an audience. Listening to students read and scoring their reading on a descriptive rubric or rating scale, with a focus on reading with expression is an effective way to assess this component of fluency.

National Assessment of Educational Progress Fluency Scale Fluent Level 4 Reads primarily in larger, meaningful phrase groups. Although some regressions, repetitions, and deviations from text may be present, these do not appear to detract from the overall structure of the story. Preservation of the author’s syntax is consistent. Some or most of the story is read with expressive interpretation. Level 3 Reads primarily in three- or four-word phrase groups. Some small groupings may be present. However, the majority of phrasing seems appropriate and preserves the syntax of the author. Little or no expressive interpretation is present. Non-Fluent Level 2 Reads primarily in two-word phrases with some three- or four-word groupings. Some word-by-word reading may be present. Word groupings may seem awkward and unrelated to larger context of sentence or passage. Level 1 Reads primarily word-by-word. Occasional two-word or three-word phrases may occur but these are infrequent and/or they do not preserve meaningful syntax. The National Assessment of Educational Progress has created a fluency scale to measure the quality of a student’s reading prosody. The scale focuses on the level of skill a student demonstrates in phrasing and expression while reading aloud. The student is rated according to the level that best describes the student’s performance. (Read chart.)

Learning Task Watch a video clip on fluency assessment. Answer questions about what you learn from the video.

Application Task Reflect on your current fluency assessment practice. Complete a written response about your current assessments and any methods or changes you plan to make in the future.