Our state (WA) does have minimal grade level expectations for fluency, luckily, these are not recorded in their permanent records, but they are to be used as guidelines to promote fluency and silent reading comprehension in our students.
Our elementary building works to build "fluency" scores with our students, focusing on speed, but also reading the punctuation so their reading makes sense. Our teachers stress that reading for speed is not the kind of reading we want to hear when they are reading out loud, but more like a fast conversation. The goal of our fluency speed reading is to increase effective word recognition skills, accuracy and phrasing, while still permitting the reader to construct meaning from the text. Fluency in our building means accurate, rapid, conversational oral reading that maintains comprehension. The National Panel of Reading (2000, http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/NRPAbout/about_nrp.htm) found that there was a significant, positive link between fluency, or words read correctly per minute and comprehension; they concluded that fluency and comprehension have a reciprocal relationship, fostering each other. If a student reads less than 60 wcpm, the level of comprehension declined because they were putting so much brain energy into decoding, they had little left to make meaning from the words. This is how our building's focus on fluency. Our students know our oral reading to a group is a different kind of fluency, integrating accuracy, speed, and prosody more appropriately for the text and audience. -- Sue Van Ausdle Title I/LAP Director Pomeroy School District 121 10th St. Pomeroy, WA 99347 509-843-1651 [email protected] "Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." - John W. Whitehead On 3/15/10 8:33 AM, "Renee" <[email protected]> wrote: > With all due respect (and Pat, I am not criticizing you personally so > please do not take this personally), a district is made up of > teachers. "The district" is teachers. Every district I have worked in > (three) has had an assessment committee that makes these decisions. > When I begged to be on the assessment committee a few years ago, I > fought tooth and nail to have the fluency "speed numbers" balanced > with prosidy. What happened is that the numbers were lowered and the > ranges of proficient, etc. were made larger, to take prosidy into > account. > > It is TEACHERS who need to argue and fight and beg for these changes. > If EVERY primary teacher in a district argued about this, certainly > it would at least be looked at. > > Renee..... waving another pink slip. > > > On Mar 14, 2010, at 6:55 PM, Patricia Kimathi wrote: > >> While, I agree with you, I find that my district test for speed and >> we must report these test results, they stay on the children's >> records (sadly). >> Pat Kimathit >> On Mar 14, 2010, at 10:43 AM, jan sanders wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> >>> Why do people (is it the "program makers") link speed with >>> fluency? To me, fluency is cadence, and reading so it sounds like >>> we talk. Have you ever had a conversation with someone who talks >>> fast? They make me tired. It is not normal. I never used any >>> bought program, but rather had children read like we talk. They >>> would tape themselves and listen, then reread the same passage if >>> it needed more work. Also, many times students struggle with >>> fluency because they are reading above their independent level, >>> usually their instructional level, and they have "work" to do with >>> the text. >>> Another point... there are times when I read aloud when I don't >>> have a clue what I read. My brain was not engaged in the meaning >>> of the words, I just read them out loud. >>> Jan >>> "Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about >>> learning how to dance in the rain." BJ Gallagher >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>> From: [email protected] >>>> Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:22:10 -0500 >>>> To: [email protected] >>>> Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Fluency >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> In a message dated 3/10/2010 11:59:22 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, >>>> [email protected] writes: >>>> >>>> Could you give me a reference for that research? >>>> So I'm behind on email, but don't see a response. I find often that >>>> something that is supposedly "supported by lots of research," is >>>> kind of like the >>>> telephone game. Everyone has heard that there is, but no one >>>> quite can >>>> pinpoint it. Just the fact that people say there is research >>>> makes it so? I >>>> agree with Maureen. I have seen a lot of evidence that often >>>> students who read >>>> slowly and methodically with prosidy, rereading and thinking >>>> carefully, >>>> are way better at comprehension than those who are trying to >>>> beat the egg >>>> timer. >>>> >>>> Nancy >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Mosaic mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >>>> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ >>>> mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. >>>> >>>> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. >>>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Mosaic mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >>> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ >>> mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. >>> >>> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mosaic mailing list >> [email protected] >> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ >> mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. >> >> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. >> > > Visit my website: > http://www.share2learn.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. 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