Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension

Scientific LearningDevelops software that exercises students’

brains to help them process more efficiently, the way physical workouts train the body to be more fit and strong.

More efficient brains makes your instruction more powerful.

Improving How the Brain Learns to Read

Reading Assistant ina Literacy Curriculum

• Phonemic Awareness

• Phonics

• Fluency

• Vocabulary

• Comprehension

Definition of Reading Fluency

• Fluency is the ability to read with sufficient

ease and accuracy that one can focus

attention on the meaning and message of

text.

• Fluency improves comprehension

Definition of Reading Fluency

• Fluency is not about reading fast.

• Fluency is about not reading slowly.

• Fluency is about not having problems that slow your reading down.

Fluency is Measured in WCPM but…Fluency is NOT just about SPEED!

How to Develop Fluency

NationalReadingPanel

REPORT OF THE

TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ

An Evidence-Based Assessment of theScientific Research Literature on Readingand its Implications for Reading Instruction

READ!– Aloud

– With a helper

– Repeatedly

Guided Oral Reading has been shown in the research to develop reading fluency

National Reading Panel 2000

Importance of Guided Oral Reading

• It is the best method to determine students’ reading problems.

• We can provide support to students at the moment they need it.

Cunningham & Stanovich. (1998) What reading does for the mind. American Educator, Spring/Summer, pp. 8-15. From Anderson,Wilson,& Fileding (1988). Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school.RRQ,23,285-303.

An Extra 10 Minutes

Effect of Increasing Fifth-Graders’ Book Reading by 10 Minutes per day

% Rank Minutes of Reading Per

Day

Words Read Per

Year

Plus 10 Minutes Total Words

Read

Percent Increase in Word

Exposure

98 65 4,358,000 5,028,462 15%

90 21.1 1,823,000 2,686,981 47%

80 14.2 1,146,000 1,953,042 70%

70 9.6 622,000 1,269,917 104%

60 6.5 432,000 1,096,615 154%

50 4.6 282,000 895,043 217%

40 3.2 200,000 825,000 313%

30 1.8 106,000 694,889 556%

20 0.7 21,000 321,000 1429%

10 0.1 8,000Based on reading level, ~300,000 words

2 0 0

Adapted from Adams (2006); Baseline data from Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding (1988)

Structured Instructional SequencePreview and Read Silently:

Students preview the text by:

– Reading silently

– Listening to a model reading

– Answering guided reading questions

– Students use the interactive glossary to look up words they do not understand

Record My Reading

– Students record their reading 2 or 3 times

– Reading Assistant listens carefully, intervening with support when students struggle or make errors

Take the Quiz

Structured Instructional Sequence

Comprehension Scaffolds

Guided Reading Questions scaffold students to comprehension– Appropriate hints

help build understanding

• Using prior knowledge, visualizing, retelling, main idea, making predictions, making connections, using context clues, author’s intent, summarizing, asking questions, monitoring and clarifying

• Order of Thinking reporting

Comprehension skills and strategies covering the following:

Reading Content

K-3, 43 fluency passages

4-5, 134 fluency passages

6-8, 152 fluency passages

9-12, 141 fluency passages

4 Grade Bands:

Covering topics related to the content standards

Spanning a range of readability levels

Including many genres: Authentic literature, jokes, predictable fiction, animal fiction, narrative fiction, historical fiction, folktales, speeches, biography, expository non- fiction, poetry and narrative non-fiction

Software Expectations• Fluency focus

– This is not meant to be a phonemic program– It responds as a supportive listener would– Different words are “Scored” differently– Review words are color coded in blue

• Common Implementations:– Classroom Fluency Center – Literacy Block– Resource Room– Lab Setting

Implementation Fidelity is a mutual commitment leading to academic success

Protocol for Use• Frequency:

– 20 to 30 minutes per day for younger students– 30 to 40 minutes per day for older students– 3 to 5 times per week

• Students can be placed in the content– Automatically by taking RPI– According to ability (Lexile, Guided Reading Level,

Grade Level Equivalent)– By the teacher using Content Overview

Monitoring Students

• Students should:– Move to next selection after Reading #3– Return to selection later if mastery not met

• Watch for:– Students making more than 10 errors on a 2 page

spread– They should be assigned content at a lower

reading level.

Running Records Made Easy• WCPM are computed automatically• Hasbrouck and Tindal norms

Session Detail Report

A proven effective one-on-one private reading tutor