How critical is fluency for the struggling reader?

The purpose of this qualitative research study is to look at the importance of fluency to the struggling reader. The research sets out to look for answers to the following questions: How critical is fluency for the struggling reader? What effect does fluency have on the reading experience? What strategies work to improve fluency? The research was conducted on three struggling fifth grade readers, all with different ability levels. One student is placed in a self-contained special education class, one student goes to the resource room for literacy, and one student receives help from the basic skills teacher. Students were assessed using the Critical Reading Inventory and a one minute reading probe. They then received individualized fluency instruction using modeling and repeated reading. Following fluency instruction, students were reassessed. This research supports the idea that fluency instruction may lead to an increase in reading rate and comprehension. The implications of this study relate directly to the field of education and reading instruction. Further questions suggested by this research include looking at student fluency progress over time and across different grade levels