Young teen girl working on reading fluency in class

Fluency

Fluency is the ability to read a text correctly and quickly. Learn which strategies are recommended to improve students’ fluency and how to incorporate these strategies at home and in the classroom.

Two middle school students working on fluency in class

Research and Reports

Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Meta-Analysis with Implications for Practice

This meta-analysis focuses on interventions designed to improve students’ use of comprehension strategies, reading vocabulary, accurate decoding of unfamiliar words, and increased reading fluency.

Videos

A high school ELL teacher shares her strategies for improving reading fluency of her adolescent ELLs.

Classroom Strategies

Articles

High school student struggling with reading

About Teaching Reading

When Older Students Can’t Read

When a student’s reading comprehension is more impaired than their listening comprehension, inaccurate and slow word recognition is the most likely cause. 

high school student reading text passage at home

Fluency

Develop Fluency Using Content-Based Texts

Fluency is the missing piece of the reading puzzle for many older students. They can decode, but they cannot do it automatically and accurately enough to comprehend text. Here are some fluency-building activities to complement content delivery.

Blog Posts

African American teacher and student sit at desks to discuss school work

Blog: Shanahan on Literacy

My Middle School Requires Fluency Instruction: Help!

It is sensible to teach text reading fluency to middle schoolers (and high schoolers) class wide, and I’ve worked with more than 100 secondary schools that did this so successfully that it helped raise their reading achievement.

Blog: Shanahan on Literacy

How to Improve Text Fluency in the Middle Schools and High Schools

Schools should provide students with up to 30 minutes a day of fluency instruction. But remember, this is across all classes and content areas. Get quick tips on paired reading, repeated reading, and other ways to improve reading fluency.

Expert Q&A

Sustained Silent Reading

Research, Reports & Guides

Summary of 20 years of research on the effectiveness of adolescent literacy programs and practices
Adolescent Literacy Walk-Through for Principals: A Guide for Instructional Leaders
When Older Kids Can’t Read

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