Highlights of the 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Study (NCES 2021-026)

The 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency study was administered to a nationally representative sample of over 1,800 fourth-graders from 180 public schools. The study focuses on the oral reading fluency and foundational skills of students who perform below NAEP Basic on the main NAEP reading assessment, a group representing 36 percent of fourth-graders in public schools. Oral reading fluency is defined as the ability to read text aloud with appropriate speed, accuracy, and expression. Foundational skills are (1) word recognition, the ability to recognize familiar written words with appropriate speed and accuracy; and (2) phonological decoding, the ability to pronounce unfamiliar words based on knowledge of spelling-sound correspondences. Virtually all NAEP assessments (such as U.S. history and science) require reading fluency and foundational skills. If fourth-grade students struggle with reading the assessment tasks, they may be unable to demonstrate knowledge of the subject area.