Fluency

1
Fluency

• Amy Murdoch, Ph.D.
• Educational Consultant
• Southwestern Ohio SERRC
• June 12, 2007

2
Agenda

• Introductions
• What is Fluency?
• Why is it important?
• How do I teach it across the tiers?
• How do I assess it?
• Resources

3
The Science of Reading

• Teaching Reading IS Rocket Science (Moats, 1999)
• MOST READING FAILURE IS PREVENTABLE. The
  evidence suggests that if we employ best
  practices, very few children will experience
  reading failure (Moats, 2003)
• Teaching reading is a job for an expert.
• The majority of teachers underestimate the depth
  of preparation and practice needed

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The Science of Reading
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References

• Adams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to read Thinking
  and learning about print.
• McCardle, P. (2004). The voice of evidence in
  reading research. Baltimore, MD Brookes.
• National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children
  to read An evidence-based assessment of the
  scientific research literature on reading and its
  implications for reading instruction.
  Washington, DC National Institute of Child
  Health and Human Development.
• National Research Council (1998). Preventing
  reading difficulties in young children,
  (Committee on the Prevention of Reading
  Difficulties in Young Children C.E. Snow, M.S.
  Burns, and P. Griffin, Eds.) Washington, DC
  National Academy Press.
• Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia A
  new and complete science-based program for
  reading problems at any level. New York, NY
  Alfred A. Knopf.

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A Great Place to Start

• www.nationalreadingpanel.org
• One of the more recent and most rigorous reviews
  of the research.
• Reflects 30 years of government funded and
  privately funded research, tens of thousands of
  subjects, and hundreds of scientist of various
  disciplines have worked to produce hundreds of
  well designed studies, the results of which have
  converged on major findings that are well
  accepted by reading scholars (Moats, 2003 p. 110

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Beginning Reading Core Components-- 5 Big Ideas

• 1. Phonemic Awareness The ability to hear and
  manipulate sound in words.
• 2. The Alphabetic Principle (phonics and
  decoding) The ability to associate sounds with
  letters and use these sounds to read words.
• 3. Fluency The effortless, automatic ability
  to read words in isolation (orthographic reading)
  and connected text.
• 4. Vocabulary Development The ability to
  understand (receptive) and use (expressive) words
  to acquire and convey meaning.
• 5. Reading Comprehension The complex cognitive
  process involving the intentional interaction
  between reader and text to extract meaning.

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What Makes a Big Idea a Big Idea?

• A Big Idea is
• Predictive of reading acquisition and later
  reading achievement.
• Something we can do something about, i.e.,
  something we can teach.
• Something that improves outcomes for children
  if/when we teach it.

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Complex Alphabetic Code
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Changing Emphasis of Big Ideas
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Proficient Reading Depends On

• Phonological awareness.
• Using phonics to decode accurately.
• Recognizing words automatically.
• Knowing what most words mean.
• Constructing meaning connecting the text with
  prior knowledge.
• Monitoring comprehension and repairing
  miscomprehension if necessary.

Slide From Moats, 2003
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Skilled Reading

• . . . skilled readers identify words quickly
  with little help from context. It is readers of
  lower skill who rely on context to support word
  identification.

Rayner, Foorman, Perfetti, Pesetsky,
Seidenberg, Psychological Science in the Public
Interest, 2001
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What is reading fluency?

• Fluent readers can read text with speed,
  accuracy, and proper expression.
• -NRP

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Definitions

• Automaticity The ability to translate
  letters-to-sounds-to-words fluently,
  effortlessly. LaBerge and Samuels (1974)
  described the fluent reader as "one whose
  decoding processes are automatic, requiring no
  conscious attention" (e.g., Juel, 1991). Such
  capacity then enables readers to allocate their
  attention to the comprehension and meaning of the
  text.
• Fluency The combination of accuracy and fluency.
  Fluency in oral reading includes additional
  dimensions involving the "quality" of oral
  reading including intonation and expression.

Taken from the Big Ideas in Beginning Reading
website http//reading.uoregon.edu
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The Concept of Automaticity

• Automatica skill performed without conscious
  attention.
• Automaticitycapacity for performance without
  conscious attention.

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What Fluency with the Code and Connected Text
Looks Like

• Children who are automatic with the code
• 1. Identify letter-sound correspondences
  accurately and quickly.
• 2. Identify familiar spelling patterns to
  increase decoding efficiency.
• 3. Apply maximum resources to the difficult task
  of blending together isolated phonemes to make
  words.
• 4. Apply knowledge of the alphabetic code to
  identify words in isolation and connected text
  fluently.

Taken from the Big Ideas in Beginning Reading
website http//reading.uoregon.edu
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Why Should I teach Fluency?

• National Assessment of Educational Progress
  (NAEP) report on reading ability revealed that
  44 of 4th graders had low fluency.

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Some Definitions of Reading Fluency

• the ability to read connected text rapidly,
  smoothly, effortlessly, and automatically with
  little conscious attention to the mechanics of
  reading, such as decoding (Meyer and Felton
  1999, p.284)
• freedom from word recognition problems that
  might hinder comprehension (Literacy Dictionary,
  Harris Hodges, 1995, p.85)
• efficient, or automatic, identification of words
  allows the reader to focus more attention on the
  meaning of the passage (Torgesen, 2006)

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Fluency is more than speed

• Fluent readers make their message understood.
  They read in phrases, respect the intonation
  patterns in syntax, and communicate with the
  listener.
• Speed must be adequate (minimal), but processing
  the meaning during reading and phrasing the text
  are more important indicators of fluency.

Slide adapted from LETRS Module 6
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The Goal Is Meaning

• Automaticity is NEVER an end in and of itself!
• Speed is not the goal pleasurable, engaged
  reading for meaning is the goal.
• Fluency is ONE prerequisite for comprehension
  language processing, background knowledge,
  strategies are necessary as well.

Slide adapted from LETRS Module 6
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Why is Fluency Important?
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Fluency is . . .

• the bridge between word recognition and
  comprehension.
• reading with expression--both a requisite and an
  outcome of comprehension.
• essential so that the readers attention can be
  focused on constructing meaning and making
  connections among ideas in the text and between
  the text and prior knowledge.
• Lack of ORF in elementary grades has been linked
  to lack of reading proficiency in adolescence and
  adulthood (Shaywitz Shaywitz, 1996 Torgesen,
  Wagner Rahotte, 1994)

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Importance of Fluency

• Research indicates a strong correlation between
  reading fluency and comprehension. Children who
  are able to read fluently can focus their
  attention on making meaning. (Allington, 1983)
• Fluency is the gateway to comprehension.
  Because of this it is vital to discover and
  monitor childrens reading fluency in the primary
  grades.

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Why is Reading Fluency a Big Idea?

• Proven to make a difference in reading
  achievement in experimental, controlled studies
• Students who receive ORF instruction do better
  than those who dont.
• Replication of these findings over time, across
  settings, and across students.

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How Do I Teach Reading Fluency Across the
Tiers?How Do I assess Reading Fluency Across
the Tiers?
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Ohio Integrated Systems Model for Academic and
Behavior Supports
Academic System
Decisions about tiers of support are data-based
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Taken from the Big Ideas in Beginning Reading
website http//reading.uoregon.edu
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Providing Fluency Instruction

• Guided oral reading in small groups is sufficient
  for typical children
• Struggling readers need more structured,
  systematic, explicit emphasis on building both
  accuracy and fluency.
• According to the NRP no research evidence is
  available to confirm that instructional time
  spend on silent, independent reading with minimal
  feedback improves reading fluency and overall
  reading achievement (2001, p.13)

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Providing Fluency Instruction

• Effective fluency building activities include
• Model reading and rereading
• Choral reading
• Paired reading with an adult or student
• Repeated readings
• Reading with tape-recorded selections
• Charting progress

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Fluency Practice with Connected Text

• Fluency develops through a significant amount of
  practice reading aloud.
• Texts for fluency practice should be at a childs
  instructional or independent level.
• Texts at a childs frustration level (with less
  than 93 accuracy rate) should not be used for
  fluency practice. Texts at this level promote
  guessing.

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What to Look for in Materials to Build Fluency

• Are passages within the learner's decoding range?
  (95 accuracy or higher)
• Is there an explicit strategy for teaching
  students to transition from accuracy to fluency?
• Is there daily opportunity for fluency building?
• Is there overlap in words (i.e., words show up
  multiple times in different text)?
• Are target rates identified?

Taken from the Big Ideas in Beginning Reading
website http//reading.uoregon.edu
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How to Determine Appropriate Level Text

• Select text that students read with 95 accuracy.
  
• Levels of Challenge
• Independent reading Level 97
• Instructional Level 94-97
• Frustration Level 93 or lower
• For fluency building, materials should be at
  instructional level or above.
• - Modified from Hasbrouck, 1998

Taken from the Big Ideas in Beginning Reading
website http//reading.uoregon.edu
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Assessing Reading FluencyTier 1

• Assessing your curriculum and instructional
  practices.
• Assessing your students.

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Tools For Analyzing Tier 1 Supports for Reading
Fluency

• Curriculum Maps
• Consumers Guides for Core and Supplemental
  Programs
• PET
• Your DIBELS Data

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Curriculum Maps

• Phonemic awareness skills can be taught in a
  particular sequence that maximizes student
  understanding and instructional efficiency.
  Phonemic awareness is only taught in kindergarten
  and first grade. By the end of first grade,
  students should have a firm grasp of phonemic
  awareness.
• Curriculum maps list specific skills that relate
  to each big idea. Each skill can be taught during
  at an optimal time during the school year.

Taken from the Big Ideas in Beginning Reading
website http//reading.uoregon.edu
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(No Transcript)
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Consumers Guidehttp//reading.uoregon.edu/append
ices/resources.php

• Consumer's Guide to Evaluating a Core Reading
  Program Grades K - 3 A Critical Elements
  Analysis.

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Examining Program Content

• The Consumers Guide provides a common metric
  for evaluating
• Scope of review and prioritization of skills
• Quality and nature of the delivery of instruction

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Examining Scope of Review Prioritization

• The reading programs scope and sequence should
  provide evidence of breadth and depth of coverage
  on essential skills.
• High Priority Items in Kindergarten

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High Priority Items Grade 1 Phonics Instruction
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Planning Evaluation Toolhttp//reading.uoregon.
edu/appendices/resources.php

• The Planning and Evaluation Tool (PET) is
  designed to help schools take stock of their
  strengths and areas of improvement in developing
  a schoolwide beginning reading plan.
• The items and criteria in the PET represent the
  ideal conditions and total to 100 points.
• Score should reflect how you are currently doing
  as a school in your instructional practices. This
  tool is designed to assist in your planning and
  implementation.

PET
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7 Elements of the PET

• Goals/Objectives/Priorities
• Assessment
• Instructional Programs and Materials
• Instructional Time
• Differentiated Instruction/Grouping/Scheduling
• Administration/Organization/Communication
• Professional Development

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PET-R Sample
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Example RB Programs for Teaching Fluency

• Peer Assisted Learning Strategies
• Read Naturally
• PART
• The Six Minute Solution

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Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) -
Vanderbilt University

• First-Grade PALS is implemented 3-4 times a week
  for approximately 35 minutes per session
• First-grade PALS emphasizes decoding and reading
  fluently.

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Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) -
Vanderbilt University

• Grades 2-6 PALS Reading is implemented 3 times a
  week for 35 minutes per session.
• In grades 2-6, there are three PALS activities
  that promote reading fluency and reading
  comprehension
• 1) Partner Reading
• 2) Paragraph Shrinking
• 3) Prediction Relay

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Read Naturally

• Leveled stories (from 1.0 to 8.0)
• 24 stories per level
• Focuses primarily on building fluency includes
  brief components for vocabulary and comprehension
• Student directed with minimal teacher involvement
  

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Paraprofessional As Reading Tutor (PART) Sopris
West

• Teaches paraprofessionals and parents to become
  powerful reading coaches
• Targets fluency with some comprehension questions
• Requires less than 20 minutes per day
• 1 on 1 tutoring

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Finding Research Based Reading Fluency Programs

• Think about the match with your core, ease of
  implementation, cost, research base, skills
  targeted
• Oregon Reading First http//oregonreadingfirst.u
  oregon.edu
• Consumer's Guide to Reviewing Core and
  Supplemental Programs
• Review of many programs
• Florida Center for Reading Research
  www.fcrr.org
• Reviews a number of programs
• Look at the research base carefully!

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Assessing Your Students

• Adopting a school-wide assessment system.
• Using data to guide instructional decision making.

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A Schoolwide Assessment System

• Reliable and valid indicators of skills highly
  associated with early reading success
• Provide vital signs of growth and development
• Sensitive to small changes over time
• Simple, quick, cost effective measures that are
  easily repeatable for continuous progress
  monitoring

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Why DIBELS?

• Research-based (what does this mean?)
• Efficient
• Looks at growth across time, lets you know
  quickly if something is or is not working
• Relates to our standards and high-stakes tests
• Data-based decision making
• Powerful

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How DIBELS Assesses Reading Fluency

• Middle of First Grade Through Sixth Grade Use of
  the ORF measure

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DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF)
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DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF)

• Big Idea
• Benchmark Goal
• Assessment Times

• - Accuracy and fluency reading connected text
• - 40 end of First Grade
• - 90 end of Second Grade
• - 110 end of Third Grade
• - 118 end of Fourth Grade
• - 124 end of Fifth Grade
• - 125 end of Sixth Grade
• - First Grade Winter, spring
• - Second - Sixth Grades Fall, winter, spring

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DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency(DORF)

• Examiner shows reading passage to student.
  Student reads the passage.
• Score Number of words read correctly in 1 minute.

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Materials

• Benchmark or progress monitoring booklet
• Student materials booklet
• Clipboard
• Stopwatch
• Pen or pencil

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Benchmark Booklet DORF Scoring Page
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What Else Can We Tell From Oral Reading Fluency
Assessment?

• 1. Is the student highly fluent (both speed and
  accuracy)?
• 2. Does the student use effective strategies to
  decode words?
• Does the student adjust pacing (i.e., slows down
  and speeds up) according to level of text
  difficulty?
• Does the student read with expression and attend
  to punctuation?
• Does the student possess prediction-orientation,
  I.e., seem to look ahead and read at a
  sentence/paragraph level?
• Does the student self-correct?
• Does the student make only meaning preservation
  errors?
• Does the student display automaticity on reread
  words?

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Powerful Predictors

• General Outcome Measure
• Prediction of high stakes test
• Nationally
• In Ohio

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One Districts 3rd Grade OAT and DIBELS Data
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Using Data to Guide Instructional Decision Making

• Making Decisions About
• Effectiveness of curriculum and instruction
• Are we getting 80 of our students to benchmarks?
• DIBELS Summary of Effectiveness Report
• Creation of small groups
• Who needs what skills?
• Movement in the curriculum
• Curriculum mastery or need for review
• Need for Tier 2 Supports
• Who needs additional supports?
• What type of supports?
• What skills are needed?

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Tier II Targeted Interventions

• Who receives targeted interventions?
• Students who are not making sufficient progress
  with core instruction and are at risk for not
  reaching future benchmarks
• Characteristics of targeted interventions
• Explicit and systematic instruction in specific
  skill(s) using scientifically-based program
• Implemented in flexible, homogeneous small groups
• In addition to core instruction
• Increased progress monitoring to determine if the
  intervention is effective, needs to be modified,
  faded
• Decision rules regarding when to fad support and
  when to increase support (Tier 3)

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Kindergarten Students Initial Sound Fluency
Weekly Progress Monitoring Graph
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Tier II Intervention Structures

• Automatic system set up
• Additional services should compliment/support
  classroom instructioncoordination of services is
  KEY!
• Provided in an inclusive manner
• Training of persons implementing the intervention
  and plan for support
• Consistent implementation
• Frequency of implementation
• Fidelity of implementation
• Consistent and reliable progress monitoring that
  is graphed with student
• Communication with family

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Defining Intervention

• Interventions are intended to bring students up
  to level as fast as possible by providing
  thorough coverage of the component(s) of reading
  identified as below level.
• Interventions should be research-based and
  provide increased opportunities for modeling,
  practice, and feedback.

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Tier 2 Interventions for Fluency

• Might be the only piece that is needed, might be
  one of many pieces that is needed.

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Making Sure Tier 2 Supports are Appropriate,
Strong, and Documented

• Appropriate
• Tier 1 Supports are in place (Research Based Core
  appropriately Supplemented)
• Tier 2 Supports are connected to the core,
  addressing this childs skill needs,
  research-based, inclusive, culturally responsive,
  done by trained educators
• Strong
• Done Frequently (Planned and Implemented)
• Plans
• Attendance of Child and Instructor
• Done with Integrity
• Includes Progress Monitoring
• Frequency of data collection
• Correct datainstructional level
• Documentation
• How do you know intervention was done?
  (INTERVENTION REPORT)
• How do you know what progress the child made?
  (GRAPH)
• See Examples of Paperwork

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Case 1 Suzy Reading Graph
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Tier 2 Decision Rules

• When children met their goals across 2
  consecutive assessment sessions, a team (teacher,
  parent, possibly others involved) met to decide
  if the child would move out of Tier 2 or if
  continued support was needed.
• If childs data was consistently below aim line
  (3 point rule used) child may move to Tier 3.

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Tier III Individualized, Intensive Intervention

• Who receives intensive interventions?
• Students who do not make adequate progress with
  targeted supports
• Characteristics of intensive interventions
• Instruction includes systematic, explicit
  instruction using scientifically-based programs
  and strategies
• Increased opportunities to practice through
  increased time and/or decreased group size
• More frequent progress monitoring
• Highly skilled interventionists

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Tier 3 Individual Collaborative Problem Solving

• Use of the Collaborative Problem Solving
  Research Based 5 step process (written down) for
  individual child.
• The Team is created around the child based on who
  is involved and the concerns that are seen.
  Parent and Childs teacher are always on the
  team.
• PA may be the only concern, or one of many.

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Case 1 Suzys ORF Reading Graph
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Where Do Children with Special Needs Fit In?

• Everywhere!
• Involved in all Tiers
• Inclusion is part of the model
• Prevents unnecessary special education placement,
  uses intervention data to guide decision-making
  (before and during special education placement)
• Gives teachers the tools to make it work

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Web Resources

• www.reading.uoregon.edu The BIG Ideas in
  Beginning Reading
• www.interventioncentral.org Intervention Central
• http//oregonreadingfirst.uoregon.edu Oregon
  Reading First
• www.fcrr.org Florida Center for Reading Research
• www.swoserrc.org Southwest Ohio Special Education
  Regional Resource Center
• www.texasreading.org Texas Center for Reading
  and Language Arts

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Additional Key References

• Armbruster, B.B., Lehr,F, Osborn, J. (2001)
  Putting Reading First The Research Building
  Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. Jessup, MD
  National Institute for Literacy.
• Hasbrouck (1998). Reading fluency Principles
  for instruction and progress monitoring.
  Professional Development Guide. Austin, TX Texas
  Center for Reading and Language Arts, University
  of Texas at Austin.
• Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write A
  longitudinal study of 54 children from first
  through fourth grades. Journal of Educational
  Psychology, 80, 437-447.
• Kaminski, R. A., Good, R. H., III (1998).
  Assessing early literacy skills in a
  problem-solving model Dynamic indicators of
  basic early literacy skills. In M. R. Shinn
  (Eds.), Advanced applications of curriculum-based
  measurement. New York Guildford.
• Moats, L. (2003) LETERS Language Essentials
  for Teachers of Reading and Spelling Longmont,
  CO Sopris West.
• National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching
  Children to Read An Evidence-Based Assessment of
  the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and
  Its Implications for Reading Instruction. Reports
  of the subgroup. Bethesda, MD National Institute
  of Child Health and Human Development, National
  Institutes of Health.
• Vaughn, S. Linan-Thompson, S. (2004)
  Research-Based Methods of Reading Instruction
  Grades K-3. Alexandria, VA Association for
  Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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How to Contact Me

• Amy Murdoch murdoch_a_at_swoserrc.org

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Questions???