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.