Fluency Standards Table

When measuring students’ fluency, Learning A-Z recommends using research-based fluency targets. To that end, we’ve provided suggested targets from some of the leading researchers in the field, Tim Rasinski and Jan Hasbrouck and Gerald Tindal.

Use the rate recommendations from the table with the Fluency Practice Passages and Fluency Timed Reading assessments to help determine whether students are making progress toward or nearing grade-level standards for oral reading fluency.

Rasinski Words Correct Per Minute Target Rates*
Words Per Minute (WPM)
Grade Fall Winter Spring
1 0-10 10-50 30-90
2 30-80 50-100 70-130
3 50-110 70-120 80-140
4 70-120 80-130 90-140
5 80-130 90-140 100-150
6 90-140 100-150 110-160

*Rasinski, T. & Padak, N. (2005). 3-Minute Reading Assessments. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Hasbrouck & Tindal Words Correct Per Minute Oral Reading Fluency Norms**
Words Per Minute (WPM)
Grade Percentile Fall Winter Spring
1 90 - 97 116
1 75 - 59 91
1 50 - 29 60
1 25 - 16 34
1 10 - 9 18
2 90 111 131 148
2 75 84 109 124
2 50 50 84 100
2 25 36 59 72
2 10 23 35 43
3 90 134 161 166
3 75 104 137 139
3 50 83 97 112
3 25 59 79 91
3 10 40 62 63
4 90 153 168 184
4 75 125 143 160
4 50 94 120 133
4 25 75 95 105
4 10 60 71 83
5 90 179 183 195
5 75 153 160 169
5 50 121 133 146
5 25 87 109 119
5 10 64 84 102
6 90 185 195 204
6 75 159 166 173
6 50 132 145 146
6 25 112 116 122
6 10 89 91 91

**Hasbrouck, J. & Tindal, G. (2017). An update to compiled ORF norms (Technical Report No. 1702).
Eugene, OR: Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon.