Accuracy and Fluency

1. Accuracy and Fluency Pat Combo Tara Blowers Steve Warner Hali Plummer Julianne Batelli Cassandra McClurg

2. Your Prior Knowledge:Common Misconceptions • According to our Survey, Sent out March 11, 2013 and completed by March 18, 2013 • Fluency is the speed of your reading • Fluency is comprehension • Fluency is irrelevant • Accuracy is fluency • Accuracy is meaning

3. Defining Accuracy • “ I Can Read All the Words” • Accurate decoding is an important foundation of reading comprehension, and is a skill that must be mastered if students are going to be able to “read to learn”.

4. Determining Reading Levels for Accuracy • According to Rasinski Instructional Reading Level -approximately 95% word recognition accuracy Frustrational Reading Level - approximately 90% word recognition accuracy. Independent Reading Level - approximately 99% word recognition accuracy.

5. Defining Fluency • “I can read accurately, with expression, and understand what I read” • “Fluency refers to the the ability of readers to read quickly, effortlessly, and efficiently with good, meaningful expressions.” - Rasinski, 2003

6. Characteristics of Fluent Readers • Fluent Readers: - read in phrases, in a natural reading pace, much like the oral language. - read with automaticity – process text automatically with little effort or attention. • Components of Fluent Reading - Automaticity - Prosody - Rate

7. Automaticity • According to Rasinski, readers must be able to decode words correctly and effortlessly (automaticity) and then put them together into meaningful phrases with the appropriate expression to make sense of what they read. • Quick and effortless word identification is important because when one can read words automatically, one's limited cognitive resources can be used for comprehension • Examples: Familiarity with which we shift gears in a car, play a musical instrument or play a sport.

8. Prosody and Rate • Proper intonation and expression. • Proper pitch, phrasing and stress in one’s voice. • Attaining appropriate speed according to author’s purpose or the passage. • Therefore, being fluent doesn’t necessary mean you are a quick reader.

9. Improving Accuracy • Accuracy Improves: • When students have decoding strategies in place to decode unknown words. (CAFÉ Menu) • When students practice reading words accurately. • Accuracy before fluency.

10. Strategies to Increase Accuracy • Sentence Repeat • Word Attack Hierarchy • Ladder Words • Beanie Baby Decoding • See and Say these words • (Memory, “Fred” game, Popcorn game) • Words and Meaning Matching • Sound Family Building • Reading on and Reading Back • Finding small words inside larger words • Getting the first, middle, and last sounds

11. Indicators of Fluency • Words per Minute • Reading with Expression • Recall/Retelling

12. Factors that Inhibit Fluency • Unfamiliarity with text • Limited Vocabulary • Difficulty with Syntax • Breakdown in Decoding

13. Strategies to Increase Fluency • Read Aloud • Students need a model voice in their heads to be able to monitor their own reading. • Choral Reading • Students read along as a group with a teacher/tutor. • Choral reading allows practice before reading alone.

14. Strategies to Increase Fluency • Echo reading • Student reads word, sentence or phrase and then the student repeats the same text. • Recorded Texts • Students are able to listen to the text while reading it simultaneously. • Carbo Recorded Books • These are audiotaped literature for children and adolescents. These provide for a resource in audio-assisted repeated reading.

15. Strategies to Increase Fluency • Repeated Readings: Emphasizes practice as a way of working on all of the areas of reading fluency-accuracy, rate, and prosody-and is one of the most-studied methods for increasing reading fluency. • Phonics Phones • PVC pipes connected to form a telephone. This shape amplifies the sound of the student’s voice, which focuses the student’s attention on reading and allows students to evaluate prosody and rate. • Paired Reading • Readers Theatre • Beanie Baby Decoding

16. Your Prior Knowledge:How to Assess Fluency and Accuracy(all of these were found in both goals) • Observations • Discussions • Miscue Analysis • Listening to Students Read • Checking Words per Minute • Running Records • Many were not sure!!

17. Assessing Accuracy • Listening to oral reading • Counting the number of errors per 100 words • Running Reading Records • Miscue Analysis • Careful examination of error patterns • For example, observation of a student's attempts to figure out an unknown word might yield evidence of phonemic blending, guessing based on context, or a combination of decoding and contextual analysis.

18. Assessing Fluency • AIMSweb Standard Reading Assessment Passages (RAPs) • These provide teachers with passages for quick but accurate formative assessment of students’ oral reading fluency • Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) • Students read a passage aloud for one minute. The number of correct words per minute is determined to provide the oral reading fluency rate. • Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT-4) • Skills assessed include rate, accuracy, fluency, comprehension, and overall reading ability.

19. Assessing Fluency • National Assessment of Educational Progress Fluency Scale (NAEP) • The student's performance is rated on a four-point scale, emphasis placed on phrasing of words, adherence to syntax, and expressiveness. Accuracy and rate are measured and determined by calculating the correct words read per minute. • Reading Fluency Monitor • This is an assessment instrument that allows teachers to monitor student progress. Fall, winter, and spring administrations are recommended. • Simple everyday assessment within the classroom • listen to students read aloud to make judgments about their progress in reading fluency

20. Link between reading accuracy and reading proficiency • Word-reading accuracy refers to the ability to recognize or decode words correctly. • Strong understanding of the alphabetic principle, the ability to blend sounds together, and knowledge of high-frequency words are required for word-reading accuracy. • In order to accurately decode words, readers need to be able to accurately: • identify the sounds represented by the letters or letter combinations • ) blend phonemes • read phonograms (common patterns across words) • use both letter-sound and meaning cues to determine exactly the pronunciation and meaning of the word that is in the text

21. Link between reading rate and reading proficiency • Reading rate comprises both word-level automaticity and the speed and fluidity with which a reader moves through connected text. • Automaticity is quick and effortless identification of words in or out of context

22. Link between prosody and reading proficiency • Prosodyis a linguistic term to describe the rhythmic and tonal aspects of speech: the "music" of oral language. • Prosodic features are variations in pitch (intonation), stress patterns (syllable prominence), and duration (length of time) that contribute to expressive reading of a text • These elements signal question, surprise, exclamation, and other meanings beyond the semantics of the words being spoken

23. The Role of the Teacher in Effective Fluency Instruction • According Rasinski, “In my work with students, those who have made the greatest gains in fluency have been those students who were lucky enough to have teachers directly involved in their fluency instruction. The teachers are the difference.” • Roles of the teacher: • Modeling Fluent Reading: Teachers need to making students aware of fluency. This is done primarily through reading orally to students and then discussing how they gave gained meaning.

24. The Role of the Teacher in Effective Fluency Instruction • Fluency Coach: Teachers need to take on a coaching role as students read orally during fluency instruction. They need to listen to students read and give formative feedback to their reading. • Paired Reader: Teachers take on the role of a fluent reading partner for her students from time to time. • Resource Collector: Activities require resources that may not normally be available in a classroom. Teachers must provide to make the classroom ready.

25. The Role of the Teacher in Effective Fluency Instruction • Provide for Performance: Teachersneed to think about how they can allow students to perform their material. • Progress Monitor: Teachers can monitor in a way that is both quick and that detects small changes or no changes in a student performance.

26. Real Teachers Using Strategies • “Paired Reading is a great way for students to accomplish fluency and stamina. And the kids love it!” -Second Grade Teacher from School #42 • “Just get the students reading. If they are reading at home, reading to a friend, reading to a dog! They will only get better with practice!” –First Grade Teacher from Livonia Central School District • “ If students can understand how words work and decoding strategies, it will solve half a teacher’s problems!”-First Grade Teacher from Livonia Central School District