This document provides guidance from literacy consultant Amanda Arens on oral reading accuracy levels, recommended text complexity levels by grade band, and the impact of time spent reading. It recommends that independent reading be at 99-100% accuracy, instructional reading from 95-98%, and to avoid frustration levels below 95%. It emphasizes that more time spent reading correlates with higher reading achievement and ability. It also provides recommendations on shifting to more informational texts at higher grades as outlined in the Common Core.

1. Columbia Public Schools
September 2014
Amanda Arens, Literacy Consultant
amanda@arensconsulting.com

2. Recommended oral reading accuracy levels of text
difficulty
Independent reading, such as content area textbooks,
voluntary reading texts, or any text not part of a
small group guided reading lesson
99-100%
Instructional reading, such as that done in small,
guided reading groups
95 – 98%
Frustration reading is to be avoided Less than 95%
What Really Matters for Response to Intervention, Richard
Allintgon

3. High-success reading is accurate
reading, fluent reading, and
reading with understanding.

4. Text Complexity Grade
Band in the Standards
Old Lexile Ranges Lexile Ranges Aligned to
CCR expectations
K-1 N/A N/A
2-3 450-725 450 – 790
4-5 645-845 770-980
6-8 860-1010 955-1155
9-10 960-1115 1080-1305
11-CCR 1070-1220 1215-1355
Appendix A , page 8 CCSS

5. 95% 98% 99%
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) 18.5 7.4 3.6
My Brother Sam is Dead ( J. & C.
15 6 3
Collier)
The Magic School Bus (Joanna Cole) 6 2.4 1.2
What Really Matters for Response to Intervention, Richard Allington

6.  “High success reading produces a motivation
to read.”
 “The texts good readers read are read
accurately, fluently, and with
comprehension. This steady diet of high-success
reading is what produces their
above-average reading growth, year after
year. Imagine what might happen if
struggling readers had desks full of high-success
texts.”
What Really Matters for Response to Intervention Richard Allington

7.  The amount of time a person spends reading is the
most powerful factor in the development of the
reading processes. (Allington, 1994)
 Students who read more become more proficient in
reading fluency and comprehension, develop a larger
vocabulary, and have greater cognitive development
(Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding, 1988, Stanovich,
1986).
 Student who spend more time in silent reading at
school increase their independent reading levels,
score higher on comprehension tests, have
significantly higher grade point averages, and
develop more sophisticated writing styles than peers
who do not engage in silent reading (Block and
Mangieri, 2002).

8.  Students who participate in ongoing independent
reading in school are more likely to read outside of
school and increase their reading levels (Greaney,
1980).
 When students don’t read on their own, their general
academic progress is in jeopardy (Worthy, 2002).

9. Achievement
Percentile
Minutes of Reading
Per Day
Words per Year
90th 40.4 2,357,000
50th 12.9 601,000
10th 1.6 51,000
Reading Volume of Fifth-Grader Students of Different Levels of
Achievement
Source: Adapted from Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988

10.  Spoken vs Written language
 Study by Hayes and Ahrens (1988)
Rank of
median word
Rare words
per 1000
Printed text
Adult books 1058 52.7
Comic books 867 53.5
Television text
Adult prime
time shows
490 22.7
Cartoons 598 30.8
Adult speech
College grads 496 17.3

11.  Independent Reading vs. Guided Reading
 Your assistance is to make the reading
accessible
 Or the text may be accessible and you are
working to make a strategy more secure

12. Recommended oral reading accuracy levels of text
difficulty
Independent reading, such as content area textbooks,
voluntary reading texts, or any text not part of a
small group guided reading lesson
99-100%
Instructional reading, such as that done in small,
guided reading groups
95 – 98%
Frustration reading is to be avoided Less than 95%
What Really Matters for Response to Intervention, Richard
Allintgon

13. 15
13
11
9
7
5

14.  Just like reading impacts vocabulary, it
impacts reading ability
 High success reading = better reader
 More time in text = better reader
 Multiple sources for materials

15.  Teaching comprehension vs. Assessing
comprehension
 Model thinking
 Teaching thinking
 Students recording thinking

16. Common Core recommends following the NAEP distribution,
which is:
50% literary texts and 50% informational texts at fourth grade
45% literary texts and 55% informational texts at eighth grade
30% literary texts and 70% informational texts at twelfth grade
 How does this impact you and your students?
 Volume – not time

17.  Page 6 – what is NOT covered by the
standards
 Page 10 – CCR – look at the verbs
 Standards tend to build on each other both in
the vertical columns and the horizontal
grade levels
 Think about the similarity to how lessons are
put together in Pearson
 Students must start where they can succeed
We have to be more aware of how quickly
and successfully they are moving

18.  Now that I have done my DRAs . . .
 Assessment drives instruction
 Instructional level vs Independent level

24.  Select three to five areas for the focus
 Use conferences to address these areas for
individuals
 Use mini-lessons and Guided Reading
lessons to address whole class weaknesses

26. Reading Skills/Strategies Checklist
Student
Kaitlin
Emergent
Developing
Secure
Comments
Comprehension
Thinking Strategies
Making connections x 9-25-10 ok 12-19-10 ok 2-26-11 ok
Predicting/Anticipating x 10-09-10 ok 11-29-10 great 12-4-10 ok
Summarizing/concluding
Questioning/monitoring x 2-12-11 ok
Imaging/inferring x 2-19-11 sketchy
Evaluating/Applying

27. Conference Planning Schedule
Monday
Kaitlin Ck on Rifka; ck on imaging/inferring
Alex Ck on Wringer – fluency
Cooper Ck on Harry Potter – difficulty?
Merrill Kaye Ck on American Plague – prefixes/suffixes
Lafe Ch on A Northern Light - # of pgs read?