The 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Study

The 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) study is conducted by NCES to examine fourth-grade students’ ability to read passages out loud with sufficient speed, accuracy, and expression, as well as foundational skills to gauge underlying sources of poor fluency. Oral reading fluency and foundational skills are important components of reading that are necessary for successful reading comprehension. Because the NAEP reading assessment measures reading comprehension only, the ORF study provides valuable supplemental information about students who have difficulty in reading comprehension. A nationally representative sample of about 1,800 fourth-graders from 180 public schools participated in the ORF study.

For an estimated 1.27 million fourth-grade public school students performing below NAEP Basic, fluent reading of connected text—sufficiently fast and accurate reading of sentences and passages—can be a major challenge.