• By Success For All
• Posted on Monday 28^th September, 2015

Making Speed Reading Possible

It is breaking news that the new Key Stage 1 tests will require children to be able to “read words accurately and fluently for instance at over 90 words per minute” (The Sunday Times 27th September 2015).

This will be a serious challenge for children who don’t often read for pleasure; and we all know how books are being rejected in favour of the delights of iPads, computer games and television! Guided reading often fails to develop speed because discussions about fluency mainly focus on reading with expression. 

Success for All has always considered fluency (of which reading speed is an important element) to be as important as decoding and comprehension skills. This focus resulted from the sad fact that many children fail standardised tests because they read too slowly with the result that they can’t be considered functionally literate.

With SFA, by the time a child has achieved an old NC 2C reading level their speed should be at least 60 words correct per minute, with a continuing explicit focus on improving speed to eventually achieve the 150-160 words correct per minute needed to be fully literate.

We help children meet this standard by ensuring that they read every day and providing time and simple techniques to get them reading faster.  Fluency practice is a key part of our KinderRoots (Reception), Roots (early readers to NC 2C), Wings (2C readers and above) and Quest (Key Stage 3) programmes.