Fluency (RF.K–5.4)

Fluency is the ability to read with accuracy, appropriate rate (which requires automaticity) and prosody. Although fluency is important when children read aloud written text for an audience, such as their peers or family members, the primary importance of fluency is that it enables comprehension (Rasinski and Samuels 2011; Samuels 2006; Shanahan, and others 2010; Stanovich 1994).

 

Children who can efficiently access print have the cognitive resources available to engage in meaning making.8 Standard 4 (RF.K–5.4) of the reading foundational skills in the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy makes this purpose clear: Students read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. The fluency standard further emphasizes comprehension by including that students read on-level text with purpose and understanding (RF.1–5a) and use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary (RF.2– 5.4c).

 

It is important to note that although meaning making with text is dependent on fluent decoding, it involves much more than fluent decoding. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the relationship between fluency and comprehension is reciprocal: fluency contributes to comprehension and comprehension contributes to fluency (Hudson 2011). 

 

Link to TRC Progress Monitoring Resource                 Link to 95 Percent Resource 

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