Reading Program: Fluency Formula™

Reading Program Overview

Intervention: Fluency Formula™

Fluency Formula™ is a supplemental curriculum designed to promote reading
fluency for first- through sixth-grade students. The program emphasizes
automatic recognition of words, decoding accuracy, and oral expressiveness
as the foundation for building reading fluency. A daily 10- to 15-minute lesson
is delivered in the classroom. Students participate in whole-class, small-group,
and individual practice activities using workbooks, read-aloud anthologies,
library books, fluency activity cards, and audio CDs. The curriculum
encourages at-home practice and includes a Fluency Formula™ Assessment
System, which allows teachers to assess student fluency using one-minute
grade-level passages and a timer.

Research

One study of Fluency Formula™ met the What Works Clearinghouse
(WWC) evidence standards. The study findings are based on data from
128 second-grade students in two suburban school districts in the Northeast.
1 The WWC considers the extent of evidence for Fluency Formula™ to be
small for fluency and comprehension. No studies that met WWC evidence
standards with or without reservations addressed alphabetics or general
reading achievement.

Effectiveness

Fluency Formula™ was found to have potentially positive effects on
fluency and potentially negative effects on comprehension.


1 The evidence presented in this report is based on available research.
Findings and conclusions may change as new research becomes available.

2 These numbers show the improvement indices based on the single
finding in each domain in the study.

Teachers, Parents, and Administrators:
Please Give your Input On Fluency Formula™

WWC is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education's

Institute of Education Sciences, the WWC:

Produces user-friendly practice guides for educators that address

instructional challenges with research-based recommendations for

schools and classrooms; Assesses the rigor of research evidence

on the effectiveness of interventions (programs, products, practices,

and policies), giving educators the tools to make informed decisions;

Develops and implements standards for reviewing and synthesizing

education research; and

Provides a public and easily accessible

registry of education evaluation researchers

to assist schools, school districts, and program

developers with designing and carrying out

rigorous evaluations.

All reports are reprinted from the

US Department of Education website

WWC for informational purposes.

Complete Reports Can Be Found

@ http://ies.ed.gov/