This study examines the effects of focused fluency practice on reading fluency, motivation, and interest in reading using a variety of research based strategies designed to improve fluency in struggling students. The twelve- week study looks at six third grade students with low achievement in reading. Multiple assessments and an assortment of methods were used including: repeated reading strategies, Reader’s Theatre, Quick Reads, humorous literature, and reading for a reason. Rationale for each strategy is given and individual student progress is profiled to show the effectiveness of using a variety of methods to improve reading fluency. Repeated readings of independent level text were shown to be highly successful for improving reading rates in students with slow reading acquisition and maintaining current motivation to read.

Paper presented to the 4th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex, Wichita State University, April 25, 2008.Research completed at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education