Fluency in reading is one of the subtle steps in a child's development that is crucial to learning science and social studies in later grades, says Steven Stahl, a professor in reading education. Stahl has spent much of the past several years studying how early elementary school students develop fluency in reading. Increasing reading fluency is one of the fundamental ways that we can help improve the academic success of Georgia's students. I congratulate Dr. Stahl and his colleagues for their efforts in this area. Fluency has long been a neglected area of reading research despite studies showing that 44 percent of students in one sample were dysfluent even with grade-level stories read under supportive testing conditions, Stahl says.
Children typically develop fluency in reading in the second or third grade.
By the fourth grade, children are expected to learn independently from text, and the curriculum begins to shift from information that is generally known to children to information that is new. Stahl may already be well on his way to creating that national model. His previous research has produced dramatic results. However impressive these results, and the research has been widely cited, the study lacked a control group and a measure of silent reading comprehension. Stahl hopes to confirm his previous findings in the new study.