*6.1. NAEP*

This measure was developed for the 1992 NAEP assessment, the first time that fluency was assessed since NAEP began 25 years earlier. The prosody measure was developed by Gay Sue Pinnell, John J. Pikuiski, Karen K. Wixson, Jay R. Campbell, Phillip B. Gough, and Alexandra S. Beatty, who all served on the NAEP fluency committee [14]. Fluency has only been measured one additional time for fourth graders in 2002. In both cases, NAEP used the same instrument to measure rate, accuracy, and fluency, the term they used to describe prosody. These scholars designed this holistic measure that focuses primarily on phrasing, syntax, and expression: "In this study, fluency was considered a distinct attribute of oral reading separate from accuracy and rate. Fluency was defined in terms of phrasing, adherence to the author's syntax, and expressiveness, and was measured at one of four levels (1–4, with 4 being the measure of highest fluency) on NAEP's Oral Reading Fluency Scale." Those who scored in levels three and four were considered to be fluent, and those who scored in levels one and two were non-fluent (see Table 1). Although there was a new committee in 2002, they chose to use the exact same prosody measure. [34].



The fluency assessment method called for individual interviews with a sample of fourth graders during which they were recorded reading one page of text orally. Recordings were analyzed by trained raters who used the rubric that had been developed. In 2002, a sample of 1779 fourth-graders from the total of 140,000 students included in the NAEP reading assessment were interviewed. Findings revealed that 10% of all readers were rated in the highest, or fourth, level of expressive reading, and 51% of the sample were rated in third level. The overall mean score for the 2002 fourth grader sample was 2.64 out of a possible 4 points. Additionally, data showed that as rate, accuracy, and prosody increased, so did comprehension. These results demonstrated a strong relationship between fluency and comprehension: "Skilled readers not only recognize and read words quickly, but also deliver a smooth oral reading performance that reflects their understanding of the text they are reading." These authors report that two raters scored each oral reading with an intraclass correlation of 0.82. The number of rating occasions beyond one is unknown [34].

A number of studies have used NAEP to examine expressive oral reading. Morris et al. examined rate, accuracy and prosody of first graders reading short passages to determine which factors best predicted scores on fluency ratings. Using the NAEP fluency assessment measure, they found that rate and phrasing surfaced as the best predictors [36].

In a study of second graders, Tortorelli utilized a statewide assessment database of rate, accuracy, prosody, and comprehension. The prosody score was obtained using the NAEP measure. She compared results of those who read slowly to four other groups: those with generally high skills; those with high accuracy and low rate scores; those with low accuracy and high rate; and those with generally low scores. She found that those who struggled with accuracy also demonstrated di fficulty with comprehension. Those who struggled with rate also demonstrated di fficulty with prosody [37].

In summary, the NAEP measure shows variability in expressive oral reading with a 2002 mean fluency score of 2.64. When two raters are used, the instrument is found to be reliable (correlation of 0.82). In the 2002 NAEP assessment, nearly two-thirds of the fourth graders read at a fluent level. Phrasing, a key element of prosody, surfaced as a predictor of overall fluency. This scale also showed that those who struggle with word identification also demonstrated low prosody.
