Teaching Fluency:
Fluency benchmarks

Students should be able to demonstrate the following skills at the end of the school year:

First Grade

Reading Connected Text Fluently and With Expression

• Reads meaningful grade-level connected text accurately (no more than 1 error in 20 words).
• Reads grade-level connected text fluently (1 word per 2-3 seconds by middle of first grade; 1 word per second by end of first grade).
• Reads grade-level material with phrasing attending to ending punctuation.
• Reads and rereads connected text multiple times to increase familiarity with words and fluency.
• Rereads and self-corrects words while reading

This video clip shows an example of a student with emerging oral reading skills. The student is shown while being assessed on the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency measure. The student reads slowly and haltingly, pausing at unfamiliar words. The student will need more practice to become a fluent reader. Click here to watch the video.

This video clip shows an example of a first-grade student with established oral reading skills. The student is shown while being assessed on the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency measure. The student reads the passage fluently and confidently, demonstrating proficiency with oral reading. Click here to watch the video.

Second Grade

Reading Connected Text Fluently and With Expression

• Reads grade-level connected text fluently (90-100 words per minute by end of grade 2).
• Reads grade-level material with phrasing and expression.
• Listens to models of fluent oral reading and practices increasing oral reading fluency (e.g., from taped recorded readings, adult or peer models).
• Reads and rereads connected text multiple times to increase familiarity with words and fluency.
• Rereads and self-corrects word recognition errors.