INCREASING
READING
FLUENCYImplementing Reading
Intervention in Grades 7-9Andrea Nelson
University of UtahSpecial Education
Problem Identification
Middle school students are reading below grade level, and there is no structured intervention program to close the gap.
Intervention has not been consistent across grade levels, and there has been little improvement since the beginning of the school year.
Because students are reading below grade level, they are having difficulty accessing and making progress in the general curriculum. Expectation: Students’ reading levels will increase and that
will make it easier for them to perform well in class.
Problem Analysis
Students are reading below grade level are not making substantial progress.
Students are experiencing difficulty completing classroom and homework assignments.
No reading intervention is currently in place to increase reading ability.
Undesirable behaviors increase in classes where a lot of reading is necessary.
Development & Implementation
•Implementing a research-based reading intervention program to increase reading fluency. (Higher Steps)•Intervention will be implemented by resource teachers and paraprofessionals•Progress will be tracked through Higher Steps program, measuring fluency•7th Grader: Start Higher Steps Level 3E•8th Grader: Start Higher Steps Level 4M•9th Grader: Start Higher Steps Level 4D•Anticipated growth rate: 2 wcpm per week•End of term: Conduct third reading benchmark to see if the intervention has helped and the students have made progress.
Weekly Progress Monitoring
Student
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9
7th Grade
80 wpm96% acc
77 wcpm
65 wpm91% acc
59 wcpm
68 wpm96% acc
65 wcpm
67 wpm96% acc
64 wcpm
100 wpm100% acc
100 wcpm
69 wpm98% acc
68 wcpm
87 wpm98% acc
85 wcpm
91 wpm99% acc
90 wcpm
94 wpm99% acc
93 wcpm
8th Grade
94 wpm96% acc
90 wcpm
102 wpm97% acc
99 wcpm
56 wpm94% acc
53 wcpm
90 wpm96% acc
86 wcpm
81 wpm99% acc
80 wcpm
80 wpm93% acc
83 wcpm
102 wpm96% acc
98 wcpm
88 wpm99% acc
87 wcpm
102 wpm99% acc
101 wcpm
9th Grade
100 wpm98% acc
98 wcpm
133 wpm99% acc
132 wcpm
128 wpm98% acc
125 wcpm
136 wpm98% acc
133 wcpm
122 wpm100% acc
122 wcpm
120 wpm100% acc
120 wcpm
128 wpm98% acc
125 wcpm
140 wpm98% acc
137 wcpm
162 wpm99% acc
160 wcpm
During every lesson, students were timed while reading on their instructional level for one minute. The reading rates below were
recorded during the final intervention session for each week.
Fluency Progress
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
7th Grade8th Grade9th Grade
Intervention Week
Word
s C
orr
ect
Per
Min
ute
Growth by Grade
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 940
60
80
100
1207th Grader
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 940
60
80
1008th Grader
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 980
100
120
140
160
1809th Grader Overall Growth
7th Grader
8th Grader
9th Grader
1.78 words
per week
1.22 words
per week
6.89 words
per week
Benchmark Reading Rates
September December March50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
58
73
8780
86
95
105
114
126
7th Grader8th Grader9th Grader
Benchmark
WC
PM
Intervention Evaluation
Overall GrowthStudent 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade
Week 9 – Week 1 93 – 77 wcpm 101 - 90 wcpm 160 – 98 wcpm
Growth 16 wcpm 11 wcpm 62 wcpm
Growth Per Week
1.78 1.22 6.89
• From Week 1 to Week 9, all three sampled students have shown growth in their reading rates.
•Each student has had regressive days, several circumstances have been noted that likely had an impact (i.e.- had fight with
friend) but overall, the results have been positive.• The 9th Grader has increased enough in fluency to move to
the next reading level.• Since the implementation of the intervention, each student
has turned in more complete work in History and English.