One on one with Dr. Susan Homan.
A Case Study in FluencyRev™
One on one with Dr. Susan Homan.
A Case Study in FluencyRev™
Tom
Tom is a kindergarten student at a small private school. His class used FluencyRev™ three times a week from February to May. Tom was able to select the books he read from the FluencyRev™ library. He read books out loud in his personal recording studio. Tom read 55 FluencyRev™ books in 13 weeks (February through May, 2021). Seven of the books were at kindergarten level. Twenty-two books were at early first grade level, twelve were at mid to late first grade level, and fourteen were at early 2nd grade level.
Tom and his classmates used FluencyRev™ for a total of 13 weeks. Even kindergarten children can use FluencyRev™ completely independently. FluencyRev™ not only provides the teacher with information on which books a student read, it also provides a page-by-page real time ability to listen as the student reads each page. While I was listening to Tom read, I also could both hear and see the words he struggled with.
I was able to listen to Tom read books for all 14 weeks of FluencyRev™ use. Tom’s teacher could listen to Tom (and her other students) read at her leisure. I could see Tom’s scores for each book (and each page!). I listened to a few stories where Tom’s reading scores were 100%. From those books I was able to determine that Tom read with fluency when he was at a comfortable, independent reading level. He often used expression. Once I felt I knew his independent reading, I selected some books that he read with less than 94% accuracy (Betts, Powell- instructional level criteria).
"Tom has strong phonics skills. He tried to sound out unfamiliar words and words he didn’t immediately recognize as part of his sight-reading vocabulary.”
One of the benefits of listening to a child read one on one with the teacher, is that you can hear frustration when it begins. For instance, when Tom read “Seth and the Hens” during week 10, the frustration in his voice was obvious. He chose this book again in week 13, and he read it with improved fluency, and no sign of frustration in his voice. With FluencyRev™ I could make sure I was listening to the same page and the same words where Tom previously demonstrated signs of frustration. FluencyRev™ provides teachers with the gift of individual one on one reading within their own time frame.
Tom’s FluencyRev™’s reading and his quiz scores lead me to see his strengths as phonics and fluency. His weakness is comprehension. Knowing the strong link between fluency and comprehension, continuing with FluencyRev™ should help improve his comprehension as well as help reinforce his strength areas of phonics and fluency.
After reviewing Tom’s FluencyRev™ reading, I felt as if I had been given many opportunities to read with Tom one-on-one. It allowed me to make diagnostic decisions with confidence.
Tom’s pretest score on the MAP Growth – RIT scores was 133. His posttest score was 154! His gain was 21 points in 14 weeks!
Susan Homan, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus University of South Florida
Chief Academic Officer – LanguaMetrics, Inc.
homan@usf.edu
