Student Fluency = More Money

Recently, much dialogue, in our primary school, has centered around DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). Phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, and fluency are the 3 Big Reading areas covered on this quick assessment. For example, in 2nd grade, the two parts of the test are nonsense words and timed oral reading. Results are used to measure a student's literacy development.

Why are we talking about this one assessment so much? Because, it has gone high stakes. Our district is using DIBELS in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade as the sole measure of a teacher's instructional ability toward performance pay. Teachers are placed in a silo based on their grade level, students are assessed within testing windows three times a year, and our students' growth is measured throughout the year. If you are one of the teachers in the top 20% of your silo for displaying the most student growth on DIBELS, you are one of the lucky ones, and you are rewarded with a bonus check. You heard me correctly, student fluency = more money!

Doesn't sound quite fair, that one timed assessment measuring only three of the five reading areas is used to gauge teacher's instructional ability, does it? Especially, when that test doesn't assess a student's comprehension, the ultimate goal of reading. But, for now, it is the measure my district has selected for handing out bonuses, and one I must learn to navigate within.

Therefore, as the 2nd grade literacy coach in my school, I felt compelled to build awareness among my teachers, and offer them suggestions to help students struggling with fluency. The first thing we did was hire a paraprofessional to implement Great Leaps, a saftey net program aimed to help students struggling with fluency. The one-on-one intervention requiring daily pull out was implemented by a paraprofessional who pulled select students for 3-5 minutes throughout the day. Though we were able to serve a select group of the students, we never feel like it is quite enough. We wished all students had this opportunity, but it was too time consuming for teachers to do.

Our Teacher Meeting discussions lead to ideas for more whole group shared reading activities, and we pulled the web based resources offered by DIBELS to help with whole group and small group instruction. Of course, we were looking for something more.

I questioned Kinder and 1st grade teachers, "What are you doing that we are not doing in 2nd grade?" One thing they said is that they spend 30 minutes a day on Skills Block, a component due to scheduling that we only have 10-15 minutes for. So, we began making scheduling changes for next year. In addition, one team of first grade teachers shared their unique idea--timed fluency passages for homework which would allow multiple readings of the same text. It added only one additional minute to a child's homework, but they felt like it helped their targeted students. It was one way to get all students repeated reading instruction without additional personnel. I shared the idea with my 2nd grade ELA teachers and they loved it.

Before weeks end, one self-directed teacher had taken the fluency homework on as her personal mission. She took a reading passage, retyped it, added numbers at the end of sentences indicating the number of words in that sentence, and even added a Monday through Friday chart at the bottom of her page to record wpm each night. She created a parent letter explaining her added fluency homework.

The basic idea of the fluency homework is for a student to do a one minute timed reading of a text. Timing can be done by a parent or older sibling. Then, the number of words read correctly are recorded in the chart for that day. Throughout the week, this same routine is repeated. On Friday the teacher (or parent volunteer) listens to each child read their passage and records how many wpm they read. At that time, the teacher decides whether the student gets this same passage for the next week, or a new passage. So far the results are showing promise.

Moreover, to improve, we've diligently analyzed our student's results compared to: previous years, the national average, schools with similar demographics, and our Kindergarten and 1st grade results. Knowing how we compare will allow us to measure how well our students are progressing, and hopefully will put my 2nd grade teachers in the running for some extra cash!

Fluent Readers

Second-grade teachers in an effort to ensure that their students are fluent readers are studying the text, The Fluent Reader by Timothy Rasinski. Teachers are reading to embrace and employ reading strategies in their classrooms to help every student realize their fullest reading potential.

In chapter 1, the author outlines four ways to build reading fluency.

1) Model Good Oral Reading
2) Provide Oral Support for Readers
o Choral Reading
o Paired Reading
o Using Recorded Materials
3) Offer Plenty of Practice Opportunities
o Repeated Readings
4) Encourage Fluency Through Phrasing

Most teachers know the importance of reading aloud to students so they can hear what a fluent reader who “reads quickly, effortlessly, and efficiently with good, meaningful expression” sounds like. Not surprisingly, modeling hits the top of the list, and when I visit most classrooms I see them using this best practice.

We have also studied the importance of choral and paired reading, and use paired reading quite effectively in the Readers’ Workshop. However, we could embrace more choral reading opportunities.

This week at our 2nd Grade Teacher Meeting, teachers got a videotaped glimpse into a 1st grade CCE classroom as Maria taught a shared reading lesson. The teacher modeled fluent reading of the text before beginning the lesson. Then, she concentrated on a few pages of the text having students point out the words in italics, bold print words, and punctuation. She taught them how to read these pages fluently. Then, students chorally read the pages. She was going to do this same lesson the next day and then have students chorally read the whole text. Second grade teachers responded by brainstorming ways they could put this type of lesson into their own classrooms on a more consistent basis.

The part of this chapter that resonated with me, came with the authors writing of using recorded materials. The reader can listen to a text and simultaneously read along with the recording. This helps students become more fluent, just like choral reading. In particular, the author states that “tape-recorded books have exceptional potential for improving the reading of English language learners.” Teachers can even send home an audio recorder with ELL students. In many circumstances, the ELL parent cannot provide additional practice at home, so this reading recommendation could allow them to be involved in helping their children learn to read more fluently. At our ELL evening last week, it was apparent that these parents want to be actively involved and supportive, and this would be a great way to get started.

However, there is a pitfall when it comes to recorded texts. Students need to read the text simultaneously as they listen. If they just listen to the text, there is little to no reading benefit. I’m wondering how we could monitor whether they are reading along? If you have an idea, please leave a comment on this post. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Another beneficial tip is to have closed caption on the TV as students are watching a program. This way, students read the captions while they listen. I'm thinking of ways we could possibly do this with a lunch bunch group.

In terms of repeated readings, I think we are fully implemented. We have students check books out once a week in our Readers’ Workshop rather than every day. By keeping five to ten books in their independent bags, students in the primary grades can reread texts. Rereading these texts helps them build fluency.

The author’s final point here entails phrasing and comes with this example:
The young man the jungle gym.
Are you having difficulty reading this fluently with meaning? How about now?
The young/ man the jungle gym.

Teaching students to read in phrases rather than word- to- word is important, but they must know that they have to adjust their reading to find meaning.

Another example about phrasing comes with this sentence:

The principal said the teacher is the best in the school district.

The author wants you to read this sentence first as if the principal is the best. Then, read it so the teacher is the best. These two examples demonstrate the importance of phrasing as students grapple with reading fluency.

I'll keep you posted on our fluency journey. If you have any suggested readings, please send them my way. Good luck on your journey.