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Everything you need to know to understand ORF in 45 minutes

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Everything you need to know to understand ORF in 45 minutes

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Fluency Instruction and Assessment with Jan Hasbrouck

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Fluency Norms Explained- Teacher Friendly

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Fluency Norms Explained- Teacher Friendly

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View the results of the updated 2017 study on oral reading fluency (ORF) by Jan Hasbrouck and Gerald Tindal, with compiled ORF norms for grades 1-6. You'll also find an analysis of how the 2017 norms differ from the 2006 norms.

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Fluency; Key to Comprehension with Dr. Jan Hasbrouck

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Scoring Procedure

In the 2018 NAEP ORF studyClick to open pdf. , students' passage reading was scored using the automatic speech analysis and scoring system with the exception of passage reading expression, which was scored by trained human scorers. Word list reading and pseudoword list reading was first transcribed by trained human scorers and then the rate, accuracy and words correct per minute (WCPM) variables were calculated by the automatic speech analysis and scoring system.

Passage Scoring

The 2018 NAEP ORF studyClick to open pdf. used a new automatic speech analysis and scoring system that transcribed students' passage reading recordings and then aligned the resulting orthographic transcripts with the passage text in order to calculate rate, accuracy, and words correct per minute variables. The system recognizes accepted pronunciations of each word, taking into account dialect and second-language variations as long as the speaking pattern remains consistent throughout the reading.

The automatic speech analysis and scoring system began by identifying the "text span" in the passage (that is, the string of text that the student read aloud from the passage, starting with the first word that the student read and ending with the last word). Then the system transcribed and calculated the number of words within the text span that the student attempted to read (i.e., the "span length"). It also calculated the duration of oral reading time that the student spent reading the text span (i.e., the "span duration"). Lastly, the system counted the number of words that the student correctly read in the correct order within the span length (i.e., the number of correctly read words in the text span). These three pieces of information were used to calculate passage reading rate, accuracy, and WCPM variables.

Word List and Pseudoword List Scoring

For recordings of word reading and pseudoword reading, trained human scorers transcribed students' oral responses. Human transcription was conducted instead of machine transcription because students did not always follow the same order (e.g., from top to bottom and then left to right) when they read the word and pseudoword lists. After the lists were transcribed, the automatic speech analysis and scoring system produced a time alignment of each transcript with the corresponding student recording, calculated the length of time that the student spent reading the word list or pseudoword list, and counted the number of correctly read words or pseudowords from the list of words or pseudowords presented to students. These counts and the corresponding reading durations were combined to calculate the word reading and pseudoword reading WCPM (words correctly read per minute) variables. For example, if a student read 20 words correctly from the word list in 40 seconds, the word reading WCPM score would be 30 WCPM (20 words / 40 seconds X 60 seconds).

Passage Reading Expression Scoring

Passage reading expression is a rating of the student's ability to clearly express the meaning and structure of the text through appropriate intonation, rhythm, emphasis, and pausing that groups words into phrasal and larger units in ways that will enhance understanding and enjoyment in a listener. This variable was scored by trained human scorers using a 6-point scoring rubric developed for the study, as shown below. The scorers received intensive training on the use of the rubric and then successfully completed a qualification evaluation that demonstrated their understanding of and ability to accurately use the rubric to rate students' oral reading.

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Adams, G.N. and Brown, S. (2003). The Six-minute solution. Longmont, Colo.:Sopris West.

Brophy, J.E. (1988). Educating teachers about managing classroom and students. Teacher and Teacher Education 4(1), 1-18.

Campbell, K. (1996). Great Leaps Reading Program.

Hasbrouck, J.E., Ihnot, C., and Rogers, G.H. (1999). "Read Naturally": A strategy to increase oral reading fluency. Reading Research & Instruction, 39(1), 27-38.

Heibert, E.H. (2003). Quick reads. Parsipanny, N.J.:Pearson Learning.

Ihnot, C. (1991). Read naturally. Read Naturally:Minneapolis, Minn.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. NIH Publication No. 00-4769. Washington, D.C.:U.S. Government Printing Office.

Osborn, J. and Lehr, F. (2004). A focus on fluency. Honolulu: Pacific Resources for Education and Learning.

Pikulski, J.J. and Chard, D.J. (2005). Fluency: Bridge between decoding and comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 58(6), 510-519.

Rasinski, T. (2006, April). Reading Fluency Instruction: Moving Beyond Accuracy, Automaticity, and Prosody. The Reading Teacher, 59(7), 704-706.

Read Naturally (2002). Reading fluency monitor. Minneapolis: Author.

Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any level. New York:Alfred A. Knopf.

Snow, C.E., Burns, M.S., and Griffin, P. (Eds.) (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, D.C.:National Academy Press.

Stahl, S.A. and Kuhn, M.R. (2002). Making it sound like language: Developing fluency. The Reading Teacher, 55, 582-584.

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What should fluency instruction look like? And what can teachers do to help students whose fluency is far behind their peers'? This article can help practitioners effectively use fluency-based assessments and select instructional practices.

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Reading Activities to Build Oral Reading Fluency

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Reading Activities to Build Oral Reading Fluency

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Fluency is the ability to speak or read a language with ease and accuracy, and it is an essential component of language proficiency. When students aren't fluent they not only speak in fragments but also have difficulty understanding what is being said. This is why it is important to incorporate activities to increase fluency into routine reading instruction and reading intervention.

Fluency activities are designed to help English Learners improve their fluency by providing opportunities to practice speaking and listening in a natural and fun way. We'll explore some effective fluency activities that can be used in the classroom or at home to help language learners develop their fluency and reading skills. These activities are designed to be fun and engaging while also providing learners with the opportunity to practice their language skills in a real-life context.

Why Is Reading Fluency Important?

Building fluency is important for a number of reasons. It allows for better comprehension and understanding of the text being read. This is also sometimes referred to as comprehension instruction. When a reader is fluent, they are able to read smoothly and accurately, which means they can focus on the meaning of the text rather than decoding of the words. Improving fluency skills is also important for vocabulary acquisition, as it allows readers to encounter and process more words in a shorter amount of time as they become more fluent.

Research has shown reading fluency has been positively correlated with academic success. Children who are more fluent readers tend to perform better in school and have an easier time learning new information. But along with an ease of learning, fluency has the potential to develop a love of reading as well-because at the heart of education, we don't just want students to simply understand what they are reading. We want them to care about what they are learning as well. Strong reading fluency has the ability to join academic success with an adoration of reading.

Ten Reading Fluency Activities

Obviously one of the best ways to increase reading fluency skills is simply to read. But there are a number of different ways to make the simple task of reading more fun and engaging for young learners. Many of these activities are not meant to be done exclusively, but instead in combination with each other. Incorporating a variety of activities will allow learners to experience different aspects of each activity they may not get from doing just one routine assignment.

Repeated Reading

Repeated reading is a strategy that involves reading the same passage multiple times with the goal of increasing fluency and reading comprehension. The idea behind this activity is that with each reading, the student will continually become more familiar with the text.

Quite often, we miss things on a first read through that we pick up later-even adults. Therefore, repeated reading is good practice for everyone. This activity can lead to improved fluency, accuracy, and understanding of a given text. It can also help with vocabulary acquisition and retention.

One tip for repeated reading is to focus on a different aspect of the text. For example, on the first reading, students can focus on the meaning or plot of the text. On the second reading, they can focus on the structure or the author's choices. And on the third reading, they can focus on the vocabulary. With each reading, students will become more fluent as they add each focus to their repertoire.

Sentence Pyramids

This activity involves building a pyramid of sentences by starting with a short, simple sentence and adding more complex elements to it with the goal of helping readers understand the structure and meaning of a sentence.

Some of the benefits of using this activity include improved understanding of sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary. As sentence pyramids build upon each other, readers see how different parts of speech work together to create meaning.

One tip for sentence pyramids is to have the teacher or students write the initial sentence at the top of a page or a board and then work their way down as the sentence begins to grow and expand. You should then be able to draw an actual triangle around the completed assignment to give students a visual of how sentences can grow and expand.

Partner Reading

Partner reading involves having two people read a text together, usually with one person reading aloud and the other person listening and providing feedback. This allows students to practice basic skills such as identifying sight words and decoding, but it can also help to improve pronunciation and intonation for the reader. The listener in this activity will also develop listening skills and critical thinking skills as they provide feedback.

As students take turns reading and listening in partner reading, a private yet supportive setting is created, where both reading comprehension and reading confidence can grow. More student-centered approaches like partner reading or dialogic reading allow students to take more active roles in their learning.

One tip for partner reading is to encourage partners to offer a "glow" and a "grow." A "glow" is something their partner did really well during the reading, and a "grow" is a suggestion for improvement.

Stop the Pointing

Sometimes students will point at each word they are reading when they learn. While this may help at first, it can eventually hinder students from reading seamlessly and fluently. Pointing at the words as they are reading them can cause a student's reading to sound like a choppy robot voice rather than smooth.

Instead of having students point at every word as it is being read, have students only point at unknown words. This can help develop vocabulary skills by only slowing students down on new words that may need a little more thought rather than pausing on every word.

Reading Contests

Learners always seem to be motivated by competition, and reading can involve a spirit of competitiveness. Set up a reading contest that encourages students to read a certain number of books or pages-or for a certain amount of time-and then reward them for their efforts.

The reading contest goals should be set up against themselves, not against each other. By having students compete against themselves, teachers are letting each student practice goal setting based on their own reading abilities and interests. Teachers can even place students in small groups with similar interests and independent levels as a way of creating a support system of peers who can encourage students in their reading goals.

Scooping Phrases

Scooping phrases involves breaking a sentence into smaller chunks or phrases and reading them one at a time instead of reading the entire sentence all at once. This allows students to focus on the meaning of individual parts of a sentence, which can be more approachable for students at a younger reading level.

This activity is especially beneficial for students who are only reading and pronouncing one word at a time in a sentence with a big pause in between each word. Moving from reading each individual word to reading whole phrases is an important step many students struggle with at first.

One tip for how to implement this activity is to use phrase cards, similar to how one would use flashcards to learn individual words. Write some common phrases on the cards with a long curved line underneath the whole phrase. Have students read each word and then trace the line with their finger as they reread the whole phrase smoothly.

Echo Read

Echo reading involves reading a sentence or passage out loud and then having someone repeat it, imitating their intonation and inflection. This is often done first with a teacher modeling how to read a text fluently before students practice echoing the teacher's fluency and expression. Students can also echo read with a peer and take turns reading a book together.

Echo reading promotes fluency in a guided way that eventually fosters fluency during independent reading as well. When students see how words can come to life through proper expression and pronunciation, the meaning of the words becomes more powerful.

Reading Aloud

Reading aloud is one of the most traditional forms of learning how to read, creating a more accurate reader of each student. Even as education has transformed with advancements in research and technology, the timeless act of reading out loud has always been a beneficial activity. One thing to remember with the read aloud is it will grow and evolve with each varying grade level. At a younger age, students need to hear the teacher reading aloud often as a model for fluency. However in older grades, students take a more active role in practicing their fluency by reading aloud. For example, fluency for fourth and fifth grades may involve more interactive activities, like a reader's theater.

Timed Reading

One element of fluency is the speed at which a student can read. Timed reading is an activity helpful for measuring the speed and accuracy of a student. A passage with more high-frequency words may be read more quickly, but reading passages with new vocabulary and complex syntax may cause students to read more slowly.

One tip for timed reading activities is to record a student's oral reading of a book or passage. Set a timer, hit record, and see how much the student is able to get through in the given time. Then, both students and teachers can use the recording to evaluate their performance. Another tip is to use a short amount of time, such as one to two minutes. With practice, students will be able to increase their words per minute over time.

Audio Books

Audio books are a great resource when it comes to utilizing technology to support teaching fluency. Often, especially at a younger age, reading involves much more than just the eyes. Students may need to read with their eyes as they look at the words, their fingers as they trace the words across the page, and their ears as they hear a text being read out loud to them.

Audio books are especially beneficial for students who may have a learning disability like dyslexia. When a teacher cannot read every text out loud to each student, audio books allow for differentiation and assistance. As students hear the sounds and rhythms of spoken language, they improve their own reading skills. Just make sure students are still following along with a printed version of the text if possible rather than use audio books in isolation.

Final Thoughts

Time spent frequently reading is the best way to achieve fluency, and there are a myriad of different activities that can make words on a page come to life for all types of learners. The key to fluency really is repetition of reading, and with so many different options and activities, students can become stronger readers while also having fun. Fluency is one of the key elements of reading that we focus on at Voyager Sopris Learning ®, and we strive to assist educators by offering tools and resources to support their reading instruction.

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Reading Activities That Will Increase Fluency

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Fluency is the ability to speak or read a language with ease and accuracy, and it is an essential component of language proficiency. When students aren't fluent they not only speak in fragments but also have difficulty understanding what is being said.

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Learning to read starts kids on a lifelong learning journey, but literacy is more than just understanding the words on a page. Reading fluency involves comprehension, speed, accuracy, and prosody (reading with expression). There are many ways to help kids develop reading fluency, both in and out of the classroom. Here are some of our favorite reading fluency activities.

1. Start with a reading fluency anchor chart

Introduce the basics of reading fluency with an anchor chart you can hang in the classroom. It's a good reference for kids throughout the year. Here are more fluency anchor charts to try.

Learn more: Oral Reading Fluency/Teaching With a Mountain View

2. Model fluency with read-alouds

Reading aloud to kids is important for so many reasons, but one of the best is that it teaches kids what fluency sounds like. Adults can model expression, phrasing, pace, and so much more when they read to kids. Try some of our favorite read-alouds, or check out this list of the best read-alouds on YouTube as part of your reading center activities.

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3. Hang reading fluency posters

Post these in your classroom reading center to remind kids what reading fluency really means. They're simple but effective. Get your free set of reading fluency posters here.

4. Try sentence trees

Sentence trees are terrific reading activities that build fluency in younger students. They allow kids to focus on each word, improving accuracy and speed along the way.

Learn more: Sentence Trees/Fun in First

5. Put together poems and nursery rhymes

Kids often memorize nursery rhymes long before they learn to read. By breaking those rhymes apart into individual words and putting them back together again, kids see how words build into sentences and stories in a natural flow.

Learn more: Fluency To Improve Comprehension/Mrs. Winter's Bliss

6. Use line tracking and word pointers

For some kids, focus is a challenge. Their eyes wander around the page, and they have trouble developing the speed needed for fluency. Use another piece of paper to help them focus on the line they're reading, or try pointing to the words one by one.

Learn more: Reading With Fluency/Katelyn's Learning Studio

7. Read and reread ... and reread

Fluency involves lots and lots of reading and rereading. When kids read a passage over and over again, they build up their speed and accuracy automatically. One fun way to work on expression is to try rereading with different voices.

Learn more: Improve Reading Comprehension/Teach123

8. Add a timer to rereading

Combine repeated reading with a timer. Students read a passage for 1 minute, working to increase the number of words they read correctly each time. This is a nice tool for working on speed and accuracy.

Learn more: Build Reading Fluency/1st Grade Pandamania

9. Track student progress

While you don't want to overemphasize numbers, tracking a student's fluency is helpful to both you and them. Parents can help with this one at home too.

Learn more: Reading With Fluency/Katelyn's Learning Studio

10. Work on those sight words

One of reasons elementary readers focus so much on sight words is that they help to build reading fluency. Find a roundup of all our favorite sight word activities here.

11. Look to punctuation for expression cues

Punctuation makes passages easier to read, but it also gives a reader cues on proper expression. Help your kids recognize what each punctuation mark sounds like when reading fluently.

Learn more: Teaching Expression in Fluency/The Owl Teacher

12. Answer the fluency phone

These are such a fun tool for helping kids really hear themselves read! They're great for busy classrooms and reading centers. Kids talk softly into the phone, and the sound is amplified in their ear. You can buy fluency phones or make them yourself from PVC pipe.

Learn more: Fluency To Improve Reading Comprehension/Mrs. Winter's Bliss

13. Read with partners

Whether kids are reading together or you pair an adult helper with a student, taking turns reading is a terrific way to get more fluent. When one reader is stronger, have them read the passage first and have the other reader echo it back.

Learn more: Ways To Improve Reading Fluency/The Measured Mom

14. Get a reading buddy

Shy kids will especially appreciate the chance to practice reading out loud to a stuffed animal pal. Encourage them to read as if their fuzzy friend can hear everything they're saying.

Learn more: Ways To Use Stuffed Animals in the Classroom/Stories by Storie

15. Give kids a reading fluency rubric

Use this free printable rubric when evaluating students' reading fluency, or send it home for parents. Kids can even use it to self-evaluate!

Learn more: Reading Fluency Is Not Just About Speed/Teacher Thrive

16. Use a fluency bookmark

A handy bookmark keeps fluency strategies front and center when kids read. We love this idea for kids who are ready for chapter books.

Learn more: Focusing on Fluency/Upper Elementary Snapshots

17. Introduce the concept of scooping phrases

Pointing to words is good for building speed and accuracy, but scooping phrases takes things to the next level. This practice is a great help for developing expression and comprehension.

Learn more: Reading Fluency Phrasing/This Reading Mama

18. Hold a school-wide fluency challenge

Make literacy and reading fluency something the whole school focuses on. Have PE teachers post sight words for kids to read out when they run past. Invite cafeteria workers to join you for story time. Track fluency and celebrate milestones with individual and whole-school rewards! Learn more about holding a school-wide fluency challenge here.

19. Set up buddy reading

Pair older students with younger students to practice and model reading fluency. Older students can read picture books, which have longer sentences and higher vocabulary that challenge older students but are still out of reach for younger students. The older students will get practice with fluency, and younger students will benefit from hearing picture books read aloud.

20. Use highlighter strips

Highlighter strips, bright tape-like strips that students can use to follow along as they read longer books, can help upper elementary students keep their place. And keeping their place helps them read fluently.

Buy it: Highlighter Strips at Amazon

21. Teach robot vs. non-robot reading

Help students understand the prosody or expression part of fluency with a lesson on robot reading vs. fluent reading. Have students practice (silly) robot reading and then fluent reading to hear (and feel) the difference.

Learn more: Arlene Neubarth/Pinterest

22. Put on a play

Readers theater, with a script or a favorite book, is one way to practice fluent reading. Choose a book with lots of dialogue and encourage students to really feel the story.

23. Use the BEST strategy for multisyllabic word reading

When students get to multisyllabic words, they may struggle to get past longer words like "momentarily" and "topography." Teach them a strategy to sound out longer words:

Break the word apart into syllables.

Examine each part.

Say each part.

Try the whole word.

24. Host a poetry jam

Poetry is a great way to practice fluent reading, and it can be used at any grade level. For younger kids, work with simple poems and rhymes. For older children, use poems from Shel Silverstein or Jack Pruletsky. Have each child choose a poem and practice reading it with flare, then host a poetry jam where students read the poems they've practiced.

Learn more: Poetry Cafe/School and the City

25. Record students' reading

Recording audiobooks for your classroom library is one way for students to see how fluent reading benefits everyone. Have students record reading a book on an audio recording app, and save it for other teachers to use with their students.

Learn more: Fluency Activities for Your First Grader/Reading Rockets

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25 Fantastic Reading Fluency Activities To Build Literacy in Young Readers

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Help kids improve their reading fluency with these fun activities and center ideas that cover a wide range of proven strategies.

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Fluency: Activities for Your First Grader

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Reading fluency is a child’s ability to read a book or other text accurately, with reasonable speed, and with appropriate expression. A fluent reader doesn’t have to stop and “decode” each word and can focus attention on what the story or text means. Fluency is the bridge between decoding words and understanding what has been read!

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Fluency: Activities for Your Second Grader

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Reading fluency is a child’s ability to read a book or other text accurately, with reasonable speed, and with appropriate expression. A fluent reader doesn’t have to stop and “decode” each word and can focus attention on what the story or text means. Fluency is the bridge between decoding words and…

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Shanahan on teaching oral reading fluency to older students

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Shanahan on teaching oral reading fluency to older students

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Oh goodness, everybody's least favorite topic (except maybe Tim Rasinski). What I'm talking about is fluency instruction/practice for older students... grades 4 and up, let's say.

No one gets too bent out of shape if I talk about little kids working on their oral reading, but when those young'uns reach 9- or 10-years-old that presumably is baby stuff.

I get why that is.

First, the research on fluency instruction has focused heavily on two groups: kids in grades 1-4 and remedial readers in grades 1-12 (NICHD, 2001). I can't tell a 6 th grade teacher that there is research showing that if she devotes sufficient time to fluency her students will do better with reading comprehension. My own professional practice suggests that it can be powerful but that's a different level of support.

Second, round robin reading has given oral reading a bad name. Most teachers have memories of hating round robin when they were kids, so being enlightened they avoid oral reading at much cost. Kids should be able to develop fluency from silent reading practice. Unfortunately, you can't tell if kids are making progress unless you listen to them read and it is hard to intervene and help without that kind of monitoring. Practice can "make perfect" as the old saying claims but it often doesn't. (Given this, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that research has found the amount of oral reading practice in high school is correlated with reading achievement gains more closely than the amount of in class silent reading practice (Stallings, 1980).

Third, older kids will often resist. One of my least favorite instructional activities (Popcorn) sometimes results in kids balking: "You can call on me, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to read aloud to the class!"

Recently, I've astonished some teachers and district administrators by encouraging fluency teaching with older kids. They are getting a lot of pressure these days to emphasize phonics - yeah, phonics in regular high school English classes (which I think is lunatic) and they have no idea that oral reading fluency instruction has been found to improve kids' word reading and decoding. Many of these kids have had a ton of phonics instruction and don't know how to apply it. Fluency instruction began with the notion that such practice would enable the application of what the kids had already learned about letters, sounds, spelling patterns.

Don't get me wrong. There definitely are a relatively small number of high school kids who would likely get some benefit from explicit phonics. That instruction, however, should be relegated to remedial reading or special education, not the English class. Likewise, the idea of English classes devoting some of their valuable minutes to morphological study - which can impact decoding - makes great sense, too. That should be a regular part of the vocabulary teaching that should be going on.

Nevertheless, fluency training can have a remarkable impact on kids' reading comprehension in the upper grades - most likely by consolidating what those kids have already learned about decoding along the way.

Let me define and explain a few basic ideas about fluency and then the rest of this blog is aimed at providing instructional advice on fluency teaching with older students.

Fluency refers to the ability to read text accurately, with automaticity, and with proper expression (NICHD, 2001).

Accuracy is about reading an author's words. If you don't do that, then miscomprehension may occur. Students must get into the habit of respecting authors. That means reading the words that the author put on the page, rather than replacing them with context-based guesses as to what may have been meant. Words matter and becoming an effective reader requires reading the author's words; not substituting them with our own.

This word reading must be accomplished with automaticity. That means reading the words accurately without conscious attention. Automaticity is usually estimated by tracking reading speed. If a student reads text too slowly, comprehension deteriorates. Adult proficient readers read text aloud at about 166-178 words correct per minute (Baer, et al., 2009). Fourth graders who read at fewer than 100 words correct per minute tend to be "below basic" in reading comprehension. Reading so slowly makes it difficult to integrate information. By the time you get to the end of the sentence, you've likely lost the thread of the first part.

Proper expression is important because there are many aspects to translating text that are not on the page. Except for punctuation, authors do little to help readers to group words together, pause appropriately, or raise or lower pitch. If you don't get those things right it can be difficult to understand.

Here are some activities that have been used successfully in upper elementary, middle, and high school.
Instructional Activities Aimed at Building Fluency
Paired reading: Pair students up. Have them take turns reading the text to each other. One student read a page or paragraph and the other gives feedback. Then the students switch roles. During this activity, the teacher circulates throughout the room, giving feedback as needed. Link some comprehension work to this. At the end of each section of reading, have the students determine the main point(s) of that section or compose a good test question about that part of the material.

Repeated Reading: Students read aloud a portion of text (perhaps a 100-word chunk, or the first couple of paragraphs). The teacher or another student gives feedback, and the student tries it again. This repetition continues three times or until the student can read it with 99% accuracy, at more than 100 words per minute, and with expression that suggests successful comprehension (White, et al., 2021). This can be combined with paired reading. Repeated reading is especially valuable with content materials. Understanding such texts often requires this kind of intensive rereading anyway, so the rereading is appropriate.

Pause, Prompt, Praise: Not all students are great fluency partners. PPP provides some support in this area. Partners and teachers are encouraged to give students some slack if a mistake is made. Let the student read to the end of the clause or sentence and see what they do. Better readers try to fix the mistake. That's the pause. But if a student can't remedy the error (or doesn't notice it), then provide a Prompt. If the mistake doesn't make sense, then give some feedback about meaning. If the word read doesn't look or sound like the word in the book, then direct the student to look more closely. If the student can't fix the error after one prompt, tell them what the word is. Finally, for anything done well, provide praise.

Recorded Readings: Students can make progress without much individual feedback. Consider having students record oral reading for homework. Have them read an assigned portion of text (no more than 5-10 minutes worth). To complete the assignment successfully, the students will likely need to practice prior to recording. Teacher can spot check these to check on performance. Again, it is a good idea to link to some comprehension tasks.

Chunking: Studies suggest that chunking can be helpful with older students. In this, the teacher initially provides text with phrasal boundaries marked. Students of all ability levels tend to get a boost from this material. After they have had some practice reading materials so marked, then give them unmarked texts and have them working in teams or individually to identify phrasal boundaries.
Here are some FAQs about Fluency Instruction
No, not all older students need fluency work. Some students are particularly good at fluency. If students can read grade level text with a high degree of accuracy, speeds of about 150 wcpm, and with proper expression, then fluency instruction/practice is a time waster. As kids progress through the grades, the proportion who are sufficiently fluent increases. Fewer students should require fluency work as time goes on.

Our students are getting low test scores in reading comprehension. Why no focusing on rather than fluency?

Low comprehension scores can result from many things. One of those things is fluency. For those kids, improving fluency has a direct positive impact on their reading comprehension.
How much fluency teaching should we provide?
I recommend up to 30 minutes a day of fluency instruction. But remember, this is across all classes. If every middle school or high school class provided 10 minutes of fluency work once or twice a week, that should do the trick.
Isn't oral reading embarrassing for struggling readers?
Fluency work is a kind of practice activity, not much different from Lebron James shooting free throws to get ready for a big game. Practice isn't embarrassing, as long as everyone recognizes it as practice. Most students enjoy the fluency work as it is involving, and they can see their own improvement. Avoid situations like round robin, in which a student is supposed to perform before the group or the whole class. But having everyone or half the class reading aloud at the same time does not get the same push back that more performance-oriented tasks do.
How do I pair the kids?
Don't make a big deal out of pairing up, as that can be a real time waster. One rule is to make sure that the students who are working together on a given day are using the same book. That's easy to do in most classrooms. A second rule is don't pair up the same kids all the time; kids differ in their ability to give feedback, so share the wealth.
Does fluency work make sense in a content classes like science or math?
Yes. It is important that students learn how to read those books well. If students are to become independent learners in algebra or chemistry, they must read those texts fluently. Technical subjects require that students read texts intensively, rereading some parts again and again. Unfortunately, many high school students read this material once for gist only. Fluency work can become a powerful way for teaching students how to understand these materials.
Paired reading, repeated reading, and the other recommended activities don't look difficult, but how do I know that they'll work?
Research on these techniques has found them to improve word reading, fluency, and reading comprehension. Whatever it is that students learn from fluency training with particular texts has been found to transfer to their performance with other texts.
References
Baer, J., Kutner, M., & Sabatini, J. (2009). Basic reading skills and the literacy of America's least literate adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Stallings, J. A. (1980). Allocated academic learning time revisited, or beyond time on task." Educational Researcher 9 (11):11-16.

White, S., Sabatini, J., Park, B. J., Chen, J., Bernstein, J., and Li, M. (2021). The 2018 NAEP oral reading fluency study. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.

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how to teach oral reading fluency to older students

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best practices to teach oral reading fluency to older students

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Teaching Oral Reading Fluency to Older Students

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Teaching Oral Reading Fluency to Older students, This blog entry provides lots of specifics about how best to build oral reading fluency with older students.

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Clearing up misconceptions about fluency

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Clearing up misconceptions about fluency

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Teacher question: Shanahan's response: Our school uses XXXXXXX [widely used commercial program] in the primary grades to teach fluency. I don't like it because so many children can read fluently but don't understand what they are reading. Wouldn't it be better to focus on reading comprehension?
Thanks for your question. I'll answer it, but I suspect your premises may be wrong.

I don't buy the idea that our instructional choice is fluency or comprehension. We need to teach both. The simple view of reading emphasizes the important role each plays (Gough & Tunmer, 1987), and there is a substantial body of evidence showing the value of instruction of each (NICHD, 2000). Both of these constellations of skills are necessary to successful reading, but neither is sufficient.

If students cannot decode text fluently, they won't comprehend it - no matter how advanced their intellectual and linguistic abilities. (If you don't believe me, try to read text written in the Cyrillic alphabet). Likewise, no matter how well students can decode, they won't comprehend a text if they lack adequate language development (oral and written) and world knowledge.

We need to emphasize explicit daily teaching of comprehension and fluency (along with work on word knowledge - decoding and morphology, and writing). When I visit classrooms, one of the most frequent gaps that I see is the lack of explicit teaching of text reading fluency; there just isn't much of that. Perhaps that's why your district purchased that program.

These days many districts monitor children's reading development, evaluating skills like letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, decoding, and oral reading fluency. If a child does poorly in one or another of these, then the youngster gets extra instruction (Tier 2) in the specific skill. Possibly that was the target of the purchase of that program - for use with kids who lag in oral reading fluency.

That's not an unusual approach, but it often means that kids get a lot of skills work without comparable emphasis on language development and reading comprehension. That may be the source of your complaint: the disfluent kids get a dose (or an extra dose) of fluency instruction... but without instruction aimed at building up the other strand of abilities.

If the problem is the latter, then I cheer your school for doing what it can to enhance text reading fluency. I'm on their side; that is a smart move. Research shows that fluency instruction pretty consistently improves reading comprehension.

But, like you, I jeer them for only monitoring decoding, while neglecting the language side of the equation. Kids should be receiving daily classroom instruction focused on vocabulary, morphological knowledge, syntax, cohesion, text structure and the like. And, there should be Tier 2 and 3 interventions with that kind of focus, as well.

There was another premise in your letter, and let me express some doubts about that one, too. You say a lot of primary grade students at your school can read fluently but without comprehension. I hear that claim often, usually from "experts" trying to denigrate fluency instruction. It's fashionable.

The problem with the claim is that it doesn't match well with large amounts of empirical data. Oral reading fluency tends to so closely correlated with reading comprehension, particularly in the primary grades, that there just can't be large numbers of those children.

One possibility is that your criterion for determining that a child is "fluent" may not be sufficiently rigorous.

Some teachers consider a reader fluent if he/she can read many of the words right. But it also matters how easily the student is able to do that. If students must devote a lot of cognitive resources to figure out words, then there won't be enough left over to think about the ideas.

Reading rate is used to estimate that ease, though the point isn't fast reading as much as automatic reading. If students can easily and relatively quickly read the words, that won't compete with comprehension.

Not long ago a second grade teacher was showing me a student who she thought to be adequately fluent; he was reading accurately (that is, he pronounced the author's words correctly), but he did this at about 40 words correct per minute. That means he was as fluent as an average late year first-grader, not a mid-year second-grader (look at the Tindal & Hasbrouck norms on this site under Resources). She thought he was fluent, but the data said, "no."

It also matters if the reading sounds like language. Are the students pausing in the right places - paying attention to punctuation and meaning? Or, are they just reading lists of words that are laid out horizontally?

Kids are reading fluently when they are easily decoding words accurately in a way that sounds like language. I'll bet some of the kids you are judging to be fluent, really aren't.
See comments here ›
The research on this is clear: (1) we should teach text reading fluency - in the classroom, in interventions, and in special education programs; (2) the teaching of fluency doesn't take the place of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, or writing instruction - it is just one, along with those others, of the important things that needs to be taught; and (3) students' text reading fluency needs to be accurately estimated - considering accuracy, automaticity, and expression simultaneously.

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Clearing Up a Couple Important Misunderstandings about Fluency

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Teacher question: Shanahan's response: Our school uses XXXXXXX [widely used commercial program] in the primary grades to teach fluency. I don't like it because so many children can read fluently but don't understand what they are reading. Wouldn't it be better to focus on reading comprehension? Thanks for your question.

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It's been a bad week for fluency instruction.

I started getting emails questioning me on whether I supported the fluency ideas that my friend Tim Rasinski was advocating. These messages seemed to fall into two categories: those who were honestly horrified that Tim would offer something beyond what they believed to be part of the "science of reading" and those who hoped to bait me into publicly taking a rhetorical swing at Tim's claims.

I found out Tim had been on Amplify's Science of Reading podcast (probably why I was being contacted so much), and that he had argued for using techniques like "assisted reading" and "repeated reading" to support children's fluency growth. Apparently, some listeners thought his recommendations to be contradictory of what Emily Hansford has labeled the "science of reading."

Then, the International Literacy Association issued a position paper on "Children Experiencing Reading Difficulties" (Wixson, et al., 2019). This document seems to have emerged from the PBS kerfuffle from earlier this year, when some of the same scholars who produced it denied the existence of dyslexia and denigrated the concerns of parents whose kids weren't receiving phonics instruction. This more conciliatory effort calls for a comprehensive approach to reading instruction that emphasizes phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, and writing-along with attention to language and the development of executive control. (The efforts to appease the science of reading community only go so far in this document-one can easily come away thinking that the major problem facing kids who experience reading difficulties is that they will receive too much phonics teaching or that some (unnamed) individual is promoting a "phonics only agenda.")

Tone problems aside, I'm certainly sympathetic to efforts aimed at healing the great divides in our field, and I've long argued for comprehensive approaches to reading instruction myself-maintaining that such lists of instructional desiderata include approximate amounts of instruction that should be devoted to each (that way, one can more easily weed out those who seemingly support phonics, but who would spend no more than a few minutes a day on it; or those champions of writing, who may address it only two or three time per school year).

Nevertheless, I was surprised that given the substantial body of research around oral reading fluency instruction and its benefits, that it failed to the make the ILA cut in their notion of a comprehensive program of instruction. Especially given the recent research on its importance (O'Reilly, et al., 2019; Sabatini, et al., 2018), as well as the substantial case made for such teaching by the National Reading Panel (NRP) (NICHD, 2000) and in independent reviews (e.g., Kuhn & Stahl, 2002).

Essentially, the phonics-firsters and those warning us of the potential toxicity of phonics teaching both seem to have written off explicit fluency instruction. Under the circumstances, I suspect proponents of fluency teaching would like a Thanksgiving do-over... they, perhaps, have less to be thankful for than they might have thought.

Why do I support oral reading fluency instruction?

I chaired the NRP sub-panel that reviewed the research on fluency teaching, and our summary of that research concluded that such teachhing was beneficial to their reading development by a wide range of measures. Kids who received fluency instruction simply read better than those who did not. These outcomes were obtained with children in regular classrooms (Grades 1-4) and with struggling readers (Grades 1-12). Later, as director of reading for the Chicago Public Schools, I mandated that our kids get a substantial amount of fluency teaching (about 30 minutes per day), along with similar expenditures on decoding, comprehension, and writing. That recipe led to significantly higher reading achievement for our 437,000 students.

If you want to advocate for a science of reading, it seems that would require one to pay attention to the scientific research findings on various approaches to teaching reading. After all, those who promote explicit phonemic awareness and phonics instruction usually rely heavily on the research base provided by the NRP; why not use the whole report? And, likewise, for those who claim to take a comprehensive view of reading instruction, why leave out such a heavily researched element? Fluency instruction has been more thoroughly studied than the promising, but still speculative, "executive control" variables noted in the ILA document (and, those variables haven't been shown to have as big an impact on reading progress either).

I think one of the problems with oral reading fluency is that it isn't a pure variable. It is a mash up of decoding and comprehension-and it is developmental to boot, meaning that it's nature changes over time.

As Professor Rasinski noted in the Amplify podcast, with the youngest children, say those in kindergarten, oral reading fluency is more about developing a concept of word-learning how speech maps onto print-than about anything that seems particularly fluency oriented. Children have to learn how print and language come together; that is, how phonemes, syllables, and words are represented on a page and what those punctuation points and white spaces are all about. Darrell Morris (e.g., 1993) has long argued that concept of word plays a critical role in early phonemic awareness development and the importance of early fingerpoint reading has clearly been demonstrated (Uhry, 2002).

Later, oral reading fluency instructions aids decoding development. Carol Chomsky (178) identified second graders who, despite high phonics knowledge, were struggling readers. She thought these kids needed some teaching that would show them how to apply their phonics skills. She engaged the kids in repeated reading activities, and they blossomed as readers. Later studies found that such teaching benefited kids without reading problems, too (NICHD, 2000).

These days we know a bit more about decoding development and what it entails. It appears that fluency instruction probably helps with those memory changes supported by decoding instruction.

As Chomsky posited, fluency work is likely most helpful at what Linnea Ehri has described as the consolidation or automaticity stages of decoding development (e.g., Ehri & Wilce, 1985). Kids aren't memorizing sight words as much as they are developing an understanding how to use phonetic/orthographic cues in word reading. They are building the cognitive architecture that allows one to learn to respond appropriately to words on the basis of minimal exposure or experience (fast mapping), such as when kids get to the point where they appear to memorize words with no more than a single exposure (Carey & Bartlett, 1978)-or statistical learning (Seidenberg, 2018).

Joe Torgesen and colleagues decided that the major impact of repeated reading on struggling readers is that they were mastering specific words from the activity (Rashotte, 1985)-which seems reasonable, no one really knows what specifically is being stored in memory when children learn to decode.

Not surprisingly, there is a particularly strong relationship between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension during the primary grades (Sabatini, et al., 2018). However, for many students oral reading fluency practice continues to help in the consolidation of decoding skills beyond that point (O'Reilly, et al., 2019), and it also starts to morph into an activity that helps to support prosody development which is more directly implicated in reading comprehension (Breznitz, 2006). No wonder the latest ETS policy guide recommends attention to fluency as a foundational reading skill well beyond the primary grades (O'Reilly, et al., 2019).

Why teach fluency? Because at different points in a reader's development it makes important contributions to understanding how print works, to consolidating and automizing decoding skills, and to helping readers to figure out how to go from print to prosody. But, basically, the reason I support it is because there are a substantial number of reasonably persuasive studies showing that such instruction enhances reading achievement-the only reason any instructional routine should be adopted.

One last point. I know some teachers are concerned about this emphasis on oral reading. A small bit of research shows that silent reading - when sufficiently scaffolded - can also support fluency. That makes sense, but I make sure kids get do a lot of silent reading, too, during comprehension instruction, in work with texts throughout the curriculum, and during authentic independent reading (when kids choose to read, not when teachers require such practice). Studies show oral reading fluency instruction translates to improved silent reading ability (Kuhn & Schwanenflugel, 2018). (I usually recommend 30 minutes of scaffolded partner reading, which means each student gets about 15 minutes of daily oral reading practice).

Serious efforts to improve reading achievement will, indeed, be comprehensive and based on the science of reading. Given that, oral reading fluency instruction deserves greater respect than was manifest this week. Reading war combatants: a pox on both your houses.

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Oral Reading Fluency | Shanahan on Literacy

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It's been a bad week for fluency instruction. I started getting emails questioning me on whether I supported the fluency ideas that my friend Tim Rasinski was advocating.

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Is speed a measure of proficient reading?

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Is speed a measure of proficient reading?

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Shanahan on Literacy

In his always interesting blog, Shanahan on Literacy, Dr. Timothy Shanhan discusses the use of Correct Words Per Minute measures of student reading. He makes clear the relationships between reading fluency, decoding, and comprehension. This succinct article also covers linkages to eye-voice span and proper expression or prosody.

He notes, "The problem here is that we're using speed, but we're not interested in speed. We're only using speed to draw an inference about how easily the reader is decoding." He addresses the complex interrelationship of these reading proficiency indicators this way, "I have no real problem with using words correct per minute as a measure of fluency. But encouraging kids to read as fast as they can is not appropriate test preparation. And, great words correct per minute with lousy prosody is not fluent."

Interesting Connections to Readability Research

Readability Matters appreciates the "Yes, but..." approach Dr. Shanahan uses to address the question. We have measured children reading with formats better matched to their unique visual processing exhibit improvements in both speed and prosody. Further, they have been shown to improve comprehension. As noted by some of the researchers studying adult readers ( Wallace et al.) when readers are interested in the content, they may tend to read more slowly. Speed as an indicator of decoding is a valuable tool. However, all of this suggests that many factors must be considered in looking at the overall proficiency of an individual reader.

Gaining reading speed with equal or better comprehension is beneficial for adults trying to process more information, as well as for students of any age.

Read the full article here.

About: Dr. Timothy Shanahan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago
Timothy Shanahan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he was Founding Director of the UIC Center for Literacy. Previously, he was director of reading for the Chicago Public Schools. He is author/editor of more than 200 publications on literacy education. His research emphasizes the connections between reading and writing, literacy in the disciplines, and improvement of reading achievement.

Tim is past president of the International Literacy Association. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Literacy under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and he helped lead the National Reading Panel, convened at the request of Congress to evaluate research on the teaching reading, a major influence on reading education. He chaired two other federal research review panels: the National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth, and the National Early Literacy Panel, and helped write the Common Core State Standards.

He was inducted to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007, and is a former first-grade teacher.

Author: Readability Matters

https://readabilitymatters.org

Readability Matters is a tech-for-good nonprofit organization with the mission to engage an ecosystem of partners to deliver personalized reading environments, empowering everyone everywhere to achieve more.

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Dr. Timothy Shanahan on Speed as a Measure of Proficient Reading

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Dr. Shanahan notes that speed is used to draw an inference about decoding and that "great words correct per minute with lousy prosody is not fluent."

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Teaching Oral Reading Fluency to Older Students

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Teaching Oral Reading Fluency to Older Students

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Oh goodness, everybody's least favorite topic (except maybe Tim Rasinski). What I'm talking about is fluency instruction/practice for older students... grades 4 and up, let's say.

No one gets too bent out of shape if I talk about little kids working on their oral reading, but when those young'uns reach 9- or 10-years-old that presumably is baby stuff.

I get why that is.

First, the research on fluency instruction has focused heavily on two groups: kids in grades 1-4 and remedial readers in grades 1-12 (NICHD, 2001). I can't tell a 6 th grade teacher that there is research showing that if she devotes sufficient time to fluency her students will do better with reading comprehension. My own professional practice suggests that it can be powerful but that's a different level of support.

Second, round robin reading has given oral reading a bad name. Most teachers have memories of hating round robin when they were kids, so being enlightened they avoid oral reading at much cost. Kids should be able to develop fluency from silent reading practice. Unfortunately, you can't tell if kids are making progress unless you listen to them read and it is hard to intervene and help without that kind of monitoring. Practice can "make perfect" as the old saying claims but it often doesn't. (Given this, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that research has found the amount of oral reading practice in high school is correlated with reading achievement gains more closely than the amount of in class silent reading practice (Stallings, 1980).

Third, older kids will often resist. One of my least favorite instructional activities (Popcorn) sometimes results in kids balking: "You can call on me, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to read aloud to the class!"

Recently, I've astonished some teachers and district administrators by encouraging fluency teaching with older kids. They are getting a lot of pressure these days to emphasize phonics - yeah, phonics in regular high school English classes (which I think is lunatic) and they have no idea that oral reading fluency instruction has been found to improve kids' word reading and decoding. Many of these kids have had a ton of phonics instruction and don't know how to apply it. Fluency instruction began with the notion that such practice would enable the application of what the kids had already learned about letters, sounds, spelling patterns.

Don't get me wrong. There definitely are a relatively small number of high school kids who would likely get some benefit from explicit phonics. That instruction, however, should be relegated to remedial reading or special education, not the English class. Likewise, the idea of English classes devoting some of their valuable minutes to morphological study - which can impact decoding - makes great sense, too. That should be a regular part of the vocabulary teaching that should be going on.

Nevertheless, fluency training can have a remarkable impact on kids' reading comprehension in the upper grades - most likely by consolidating what those kids have already learned about decoding along the way.

Let me define and explain a few basic ideas about fluency and then the rest of this blog is aimed at providing instructional advice on fluency teaching with older students.

Fluency refers to the ability to read text accurately, with automaticity, and with proper expression (NICHD, 2001).

Accuracy is about reading an author's words. If you don't do that, then miscomprehension may occur. Students must get into the habit of respecting authors. That means reading the words that the author put on the page, rather than replacing them with context-based guesses as to what may have been meant. Words matter and becoming an effective reader requires reading the author's words; not substituting them with our own.

This word reading must be accomplished with automaticity. That means reading the words accurately without conscious attention. Automaticity is usually estimated by tracking reading speed. If a student reads text too slowly, comprehension deteriorates. Adult proficient readers read text aloud at about 166-178 words correct per minute (Baer, et al., 2009). Fourth graders who read at fewer than 100 words correct per minute tend to be "below basic" in reading comprehension. Reading so slowly makes it difficult to integrate information. By the time you get to the end of the sentence, you've likely lost the thread of the first part.

Proper expression is important because there are many aspects to translating text that are not on the page. Except for punctuation, authors do little to help readers to group words together, pause appropriately, or raise or lower pitch. If you don't get those things right it can be difficult to understand.

Here are some activities that have been used successfully in upper elementary, middle, and high school.
Instructional Activities Aimed at Building Fluency
Paired reading: Pair students up. Have them take turns reading the text to each other. One student read a page or paragraph and the other gives feedback. Then the students switch roles. During this activity, the teacher circulates throughout the room, giving feedback as needed. Link some comprehension work to this. At the end of each section of reading, have the students determine the main point(s) of that section or compose a good test question about that part of the material.

Repeated Reading: Students read aloud a portion of text (perhaps a 100-word chunk, or the first couple of paragraphs). The teacher or another student gives feedback, and the student tries it again. This repetition continues three times or until the student can read it with 99% accuracy, at more than 100 words per minute, and with expression that suggests successful comprehension (White, et al., 2021). This can be combined with paired reading. Repeated reading is especially valuable with content materials. Understanding such texts often requires this kind of intensive rereading anyway, so the rereading is appropriate.

Pause, Prompt, Praise: Not all students are great fluency partners. PPP provides some support in this area. Partners and teachers are encouraged to give students some slack if a mistake is made. Let the student read to the end of the clause or sentence and see what they do. Better readers try to fix the mistake. That's the pause. But if a student can't remedy the error (or doesn't notice it), then provide a Prompt. If the mistake doesn't make sense, then give some feedback about meaning. If the word read doesn't look or sound like the word in the book, then direct the student to look more closely. If the student can't fix the error after one prompt, tell them what the word is. Finally, for anything done well, provide praise.

Recorded Readings: Students can make progress without much individual feedback. Consider having students record oral reading for homework. Have them read an assigned portion of text (no more than 5-10 minutes worth). To complete the assignment successfully, the students will likely need to practice prior to recording. Teacher can spot check these to check on performance. Again, it is a good idea to link to some comprehension tasks.

Chunking: Studies suggest that chunking can be helpful with older students. In this, the teacher initially provides text with phrasal boundaries marked. Students of all ability levels tend to get a boost from this material. After they have had some practice reading materials so marked, then give them unmarked texts and have them working in teams or individually to identify phrasal boundaries.
Here are some FAQs about Fluency Instruction
No, not all older students need fluency work. Some students are particularly good at fluency. If students can read grade level text with a high degree of accuracy, speeds of about 150 wcpm, and with proper expression, then fluency instruction/practice is a time waster. As kids progress through the grades, the proportion who are sufficiently fluent increases. Fewer students should require fluency work as time goes on.

Our students are getting low test scores in reading comprehension. Why no focusing on rather than fluency?

Low comprehension scores can result from many things. One of those things is fluency. For those kids, improving fluency has a direct positive impact on their reading comprehension.
How much fluency teaching should we provide?
I recommend up to 30 minutes a day of fluency instruction. But remember, this is across all classes. If every middle school or high school class provided 10 minutes of fluency work once or twice a week, that should do the trick.
Isn't oral reading embarrassing for struggling readers?
Fluency work is a kind of practice activity, not much different from Lebron James shooting free throws to get ready for a big game. Practice isn't embarrassing, as long as everyone recognizes it as practice. Most students enjoy the fluency work as it is involving, and they can see their own improvement. Avoid situations like round robin, in which a student is supposed to perform before the group or the whole class. But having everyone or half the class reading aloud at the same time does not get the same push back that more performance-oriented tasks do.
How do I pair the kids?
Don't make a big deal out of pairing up, as that can be a real time waster. One rule is to make sure that the students who are working together on a given day are using the same book. That's easy to do in most classrooms. A second rule is don't pair up the same kids all the time; kids differ in their ability to give feedback, so share the wealth.
Does fluency work make sense in a content classes like science or math?
Yes. It is important that students learn how to read those books well. If students are to become independent learners in algebra or chemistry, they must read those texts fluently. Technical subjects require that students read texts intensively, rereading some parts again and again. Unfortunately, many high school students read this material once for gist only. Fluency work can become a powerful way for teaching students how to understand these materials.
Paired reading, repeated reading, and the other recommended activities don't look difficult, but how do I know that they'll work?
Research on these techniques has found them to improve word reading, fluency, and reading comprehension. Whatever it is that students learn from fluency training with particular texts has been found to transfer to their performance with other texts.
References
Baer, J., Kutner, M., & Sabatini, J. (2009). Basic reading skills and the literacy of America's least literate adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Stallings, J. A. (1980). Allocated academic learning time revisited, or beyond time on task." Educational Researcher 9 (11):11-16.

White, S., Sabatini, J., Park, B. J., Chen, J., Bernstein, J., and Li, M. (2021). The 2018 NAEP oral reading fluency study. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.

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how to teach oral reading fluency to older students

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best practices to teach oral reading fluency to older students

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Teaching Oral Reading Fluency to Older Students

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Teaching Oral Reading Fluency to Older students, This blog entry provides lots of specifics about how best to build oral reading fluency with older students.

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How to find text to practice- Lexile and Grade Level Bands

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How to find text to practice- Lexile and Grade Level Bands