The Role of Reading Rate in the Informal Assessment of Reading Ability

Abstract

This article, which focuses on oral reading rate, reports findings from a large assessment study in rural North Carolina. Students in grades 2 to 6 were assessed on the following measures: isolated word recognition (timed and untimed); oral reading accuracy, reading rate, and reading comprehension. Overall, the results (1) support traditional “instructional-level” criteria in reading diagnosis (e.g., word recognition-timed = 75%; oral reading accuracy = 95%); (2) provide tentative oral reading rate minimums for each grade level, 2 through 6; and (3) suggest that a word recognition-in-isolation measure, if timed (½ second), is an excellent predictor of oral reading rate or fluency. Practical implications accompany each of these findings.