Using FREDs Fluency Assessments

We are super excited to launch our FREDs Fluency Assessments. These have been modelled on the American DIBELs fluency assessments but written in a style and using extracts more suited to a UK audience. Each assessment includes a pupil extract (which the pupil will have in front of them to read from) and an adult marksheet which the adult will have in front of them to annotate as the child reads.

Children should be timed reading for one minute, following the script provided with each resource, and adults follow and circle any words that the child reads incorrectly or is unable to read. At the end of the minute, the adult should mark on the marksheet the point that the child reached and use this to calculate the number of words read correctly per minute (total number of words read minus any errors).

Across school, there are different expectations for the number of words a child should be reading correctly each minute. We have completed extensive research into expected rates for each year group, including work in schools and exploration of guidance from Rasinski, FFT, Hasbrouck, Manzo and more, and have set our expected fluency rates for each year group as follows. These should be treated as targets for the children to reach by the end of their year, with progress from one year group to the next evidenced over the course of an academic year.

Year 2 – 70 wcpm

Year 3 – 90 wcpm

Year 4 – 100 wcpm

Year 5 – 110 wcpm

Year 6 – 120 wcpm

All of the fluency assessments we release have been given a Lexile Level which indicates the difficulty of the text, and across the year the challenge will increase for each year group.

In Year 2, texts will have a Lexile Level between 200 and 400.

In Year 3, texts will have a Lexile Level between 400 and 600.

In Year 4, texts will have a Lexile Level between 600 and 730.

In Year 5, texts will have a Lexile Level between 730 and 860.

In Year 6, texts will have a Lexile Level between 860 and 990.

A child should be aiming to reach the relevant number of wcpm whilst reading a text at the higher end of the Lexile range for their year group by the end of the year to be consider a fluent reader. They could also be considered fluent if reading a text at the lower end of the Lexile range for their year group at the beginning of the year at the correct speed. So, for example, you can be confident that a child in Year 3 is reading with the correct level of fluency if you assess them in September and they read a text with a Lexile Level of 400 at a speed of 70wcpm. By the end of the year, that same child should be confidently reading a text with a Lexile Level of 600 at a speed of 90wcpm.

When it comes to end-of-year assessment, children can be given a level of either Building Fluency, Almost Fluent or Fluent depending on the Lexile Level of the text they are able to read at the relevant pace. For example, if in June you assessed your Year 5 class, the children would be given a level based on their performance as follows;

Child 1 is able to read a text with a Lexile Level of 730 at 100wcpm – they are Building Fluency.

Child 2 is able to read a text with a Lexile Level of 800 at 105wcpm – they are Almost Fluent.

Child 3 is able to read a text with a Lexile Level of 860 at 110wcpm – they are Fluent.

Let me know if you have any questions!