Dibels Testing

Big Ideas in Reading and Dibels testing

Fluency

Fluency (automaticity) is reading words with no noticeable cognitive or mental effort. It is having mastered word recognition skills to the point of overlearning. Fundamental skills are so "automatic" that they do not require conscious attention.
Examples of automaticity:

• shifting gears on a car
• playing a musical instrument
• playing a sport (serving a tennis ball)

---

Point to Remember:

Fluency is not an end in itself but a critical gateway to comprehension. Fluent reading frees resources to process meaning.

For students to develop fluency, they must:

• perform the task or demonstrate the skill accurately, and
• perform the preskills of the task quickly and effortlessly.

Once accurate, fluency develops through plentiful opportunities for practice in which the task can be performed with a high rate of success.