Fluency is central in early learning classrooms because early learners see the most rapid growth and change in their reading rate and accuracy as their skills improve. This rapid growth is largely due to frequent practice in the classroom, with teachers taking every opportunity to encourage their younger students to read out loud. This focus on the reading experience in primary classrooms is only intensifying as Read by Grade 3 initiatives influence teachers nationwide to prioritize fluency early and to prepare students ahead of that pivotal decision-point year.

What reading instruction looks like in fourth grade and beyond

After third grade, explicit fluency instruction often takes a backseat to other literacy competencies, though not for lack of things to cover. Students reading fluently by third grade still need to learn how to break down multisyllabic words, improve their word-attack skills, and receive instruction in morpheme analysis and prosody. Students with good automaticity with simpler text move to more complex text while maintaining their rate, word-attack skills, and reading with expression. For students with unfinished learning in foundational skills, the need is more dire, as a lack of fluency instruction can cause them to fall further behind.

Time is a major factor in this decision. Oral reading fluency is not always explicitly listed in the standards beyond third grade, and when it is, it may not be prioritized, as it’s not measured on the state summative test. Additionally, teachers working with students beyond third grade may be less familiar with the pedagogy for approaching these next-level fluency skills, simply because it’s not part of their standard practice. Also, existing fluency assessments may not be developed with fourth- and fifth-graders in mind and often lack age-appropriate reading content or interfaces.

The consequences for limiting explicit fluency and foundational skills instruction and assessment to early learners are especially impactful to struggling readers. If reading is difficult and frustrating, students are less likely to read. These same students will limit their exposure to complex vocabulary and syntax. Without practice in the classroom, they may stop reading aloud altogether, as most readers are not doing much reading aloud after the primary grades. Their peers who are stronger readers will continue to improve, widening the gap in the classroom and beyond. In fact, reading ability in third grade is a strong predictor of on-time high school graduation rate.

How to build fluency in older readers

There are many opportunities for teachers and coaches to strengthen oral reading fluency beyond third grade for students reading on, above, or below grade level. Some of the strategies below can even be incorporated into other subjects, in social studies or science, for example, for a multidisciplinary approach that saves teacher time and gives students more opportunities to practice.

1. Scaffolding
   Scaffolding is the method of breaking down learning into smaller, right-sized blocks or ideas to better support students as they learn. Scaffolding strategies for oral reading fluency can take a lot of different approaches, including:
   • Students reading aloud to one another to create a feedback loop
   • A teacher prereading a text with students to introduce complex vocabulary before the students encounter the text on their own
   • Setting up recording stations for students to record themselves reading aloud and play recordings back to hear themselves and make improvements
     
2. Creative read-aloud opportunities
   In addition to individual students reading aloud to the whole class from a textbook or fiction book, teachers can encourage fluency practice with reader theater. Students perform stories, poetry, or short plays aloud with small groups, with their lines at the ready. This is a fun way for students to practice their inflection, clarity, and speed with engaging material. Students can also practice individually with the personalized learning in MAP® Reading Fluency with Coach. The tech-enhanced tutoring program actively listens and detects oral reading errors to deliver real-time microinterventions that strengthen critical foundational skills.
   
3. Assessment
   MAP Reading Fluency from NWEA® has also expanded coverage to better support at-risk fourth- and fifth-grade students. Additional passage levels, expanding to 1000L, support this wider range of early readers. Teachers can use the computer-adaptive benchmark test to measure students’ oral reading fluency, literal comprehension, and foundational skills. Speech-recognition technology records and automatically scores an entire class in about one class period.
   
   Available in English and Spanish, MAP Reading Fluency can be used as a benchmark or progress-monitoring tool. It can be especially helpful to pinpoint the needs and gaps of struggling readers to help them work on specific skills in small groups or with additional interventions.

Going forward

The need for fluency instruction does not disappear at the conclusion of third grade. To ensure they’re providing students with comprehensive literacy instruction, teachers and administrators should work together to find opportunities to continue fluency education and practice in the classroom, particularly for students at risk of falling behind. It’s a sound investment in future academic success.

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