*4.2. Treatment*

Each day all first-grade students received instruction in reading for 135 min from early October through mid-December (10 weeks). Students in the business-as-usual group received daily instruction in phonics (25 min), computer-based instruction (25 min) that included activities involving specific word decoding and comprehension competencies, independent reading of picture books (25 min), guided reading using authentic texts with teacher-led discussions (25 min), and standards-based reading instruction focused on discrete reading competencies found in the standards document issued by the state education agency (35 min). Fluency instruction was a tangential aspect of the business-as-usual (BAU) curriculum and occurred on an informal and irregular basis. That is, the teachers occasionally involved students in repeated and assisted reading activities; however, these were usually unplanned events that occurred irregularly. For example, realizing that students had di fficulty with an assigned text, the teacher might ask students to read it a second time. Similarly, during regular guided reading instruction the BAU teacher may occasionally ask pairs or small groups of students to read a portion of a text chorally. In none of these instances was the fluency activity planned as part of a regular and systematic approach to fluency instruction.

For students in the FDL classrooms, phonics, computer instruction, independent reading, and guided reading were each reduced by 5 min, resulting in a 20-min daily period available for implementation of the FDL. Total time for reading instruction, then, was the same for both groups. In order for students to receive the FDL within the allotted and limited time, each Fluency Development Lesson was administered to the entire class (25 and 26 students respectively).

All students were asked to engage in a brief period of reading (10–15 min) at home. For the BAU students, parents were asked to read to their children and/or listen to them read passages that they had read at school or passages chosen for independent reading. In the FDL groups, students were asked specifically to engage in repeated oral readings or performances of the text from the daily Fluency Development Lesson to various members of their families.
