Seasonal Assessment of Oral Reading Rate Obtained by Rural Elementary Students

Seasonal assessments of oral reading rates were obtained from rural first and second grade elementary students. The rates were obtained by administering reading probes selected from the school\u27s curriculum and administered during the fall, winter, and spring months. The obtained rates were then compared to establish prescriptive for frustration, instructional, and mastery level reading standards. The results indicated that the first grade participants were significantly below frustration and mastery reading levels for the fall and winter assessments respectively. However, the first grade participants\u27 were significantly above the mastery level prescriptive during the spring assessment. The second grade participants were at the frustration level during the fall assessment. At the winter assessment, second grade participants\u27 oral reading rates did not differ significantly from the recommended mastery level prescriptive. However, the spring assessment revealed oral reading rates significantly above the suggested prescriptive for mastery level. Also, changes in seasons were associated with equal increases in oral reading rate. A rationale was presented for why the standard normal learning curve was obtained