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At this point in the school year, some of your students may be ready to exit their Read Naturally program. A student may be ready to exit Read Naturally if…

• The student can read unpracticed, grade-level material accurately, expressively, and at a rate that is at least at the 50th percentile of national norms.
• The student’s Read Naturally level is above his/her grade level.
• The student consistently scores well on comprehension questions.
• The student’s cold timing scores are often near or above his/her goal.
• The student seems bored by the read along step.

Remember the Long-Term Benchmark Fluency Goal

A student is ready to exit Read Naturally when he or she has met the long-term benchmark fluency goal of reading unpracticed, grade-level material accurately, expressively, with understanding, and a rate that is at least at the 50th percentile of national norms. Remember, testing dates matter!

Use a benchmark assessment tool, such as Read Naturally’s Reading Fluency Benchmark Assessor (RFBA), to determine whether a student has met his or her long-term benchmark fluency goal. Benchmark assessments are administered in fall (first month of the school year), winter (fifth month of the school year), and spring (ninth month of the school year). Generally, they are given approximately 16 weeks apart. If the student meets the long-term benchmark fluency goal in one of these testing periods, the student is ready to leave Read Naturally. In this case, do a little dance for your student and for yourself! It’s time to celebrate your student’s achievement!

For students who seem to be nearing the end of a fluency intervention, there are some adjustments you can make to help them prepare to exit Read Naturally and be successful readers without the program’s added support.

Reduce the Number of Read Alongs

One simple program adjustment you can make to increase your students’ independence as they prepare to exit Read Naturally is to reduce the number of read alongs required. Most students read along with the audio three times in each story. Modify the program by gradually bringing it down to two read alongs and then to one read along. Eventually you can eliminate the read along step altogether. The read along step is an important scaffold for a dysfluent reader and is crucial for teaching correct pronunciation, phrasing, expression, word recognition, and accuracy. However, the student will not have a read along step in regular reading material, so gradually reducing this scaffolding will help prepare the student to read new material.

Enhance Retell and Summary Sections

If you have been skipping the retell or summary step, add it back in for students who are preparing to exit Read Naturally. Require the retelling/summary to have proper punctuation, capitalization, and complete sentences. Provide bonus points if it is well written and grammatically correct.

Do you have questions about your students exiting Read Naturally? We love your questions and comments, so please ask away below!