Using oral reading fluency to evaluate response to intervention and to identify students not making sufficient progress

Oral reading fluency (ORF) data are frequently used to monitor progress in reading, but there are many different approaches to interpret the data. We examined four dual discrepancy (DD) models that examined both post-intervention level and ORF growth. Data were collected from 3354 students in second through eighth grades. The ORF data for the lowest 25% of the students (n=773) were used to evaluate student progress with the four DD models and compare reading skills, as measured by a standardized assessment that was external to the curriculum, of students identified with and without a DD. All four models led to significantly and large differences (d=0.77-1.12) in reading skills among students identified with and without a DD. The overall prevalence rate of students who were DD ranged from less than 2 to 7% in second grade and from approximately 3 to 20% in eighth grade, and a total of 77 children (2.2%) were identified as DD by all four models. Data supported the use of the norm-referenced level at the 7th percentile on local norms and criterion-referenced slopes based on the ORF slope required to maintain proficiency on benchmark assessments.