In this poster we aim to present and discuss results of a quantitative cross-sectional research, which aimed to characterize reading fluency and comprehension levels in students from second to fourth grades in three districts in the north of Portugal. The research goals were: a) To develop a reliable school-wide curriculum-based-measurement screening and progress monitoring system across three school years; b) To know how reading fluency and comprehension develops across three school years; c) To know the impact of gender and risk for reading difficulties in reading fluency and comprehension in each of the three grades; d) To know the relationship between reading fluency and comprehension in each of the three grades; e) to know how much of reading comprehension is predicted by fluency in each of the three grades.

The Curriculum-Based Measurement (Deno, 1985) is a simple standard, reliable, valid, time and cost efficient, procedure that can inform about students level and progress, and that is widely used for screening and progress monitoring purposes across general and special education within response to intervention frameworks (Deno, Fuchs, Marston, & Shin, 2001; Deno, Reschly, Lembke, Magnusson, Callender, et al., 2009;  Fuchs & Fuchs, 1997). Results can create foundations for evaluating the effectiveness of instructional programs, and to promote an early identification of students at risk for specific learning disabilities in reading. Additionally, in a language like portuguese it would add knowledge in what concerns how fluency can be considered as the basis of reading comprehension, as mentioned by several experts (Padeliadu & Antoniou, 2014).

A quantitative cross-sectional research was carried out within a sample of 324 students, across grades two, three and four, who attended public schools in academic year 2017-2018.Data were collected through two curriculum-bases-measurement (CBM) probes, one for reading fluency (CBM-Oral) and one for reading comprehension (CBM-Maze). Students whose scores were at or below the 20th percentile were considered at risk. Data were analyzed through descriptive, inferential, correlational and regression statistics.

The data is being analyzed but, preliminary results allow to conclude that: 1) The CBM-Oral Reading and CBM-Maze tests are economical, fast and easy to apply; 2) Students in 2th grade, on average, read 56.44 correct words per minute (cwpm), while in 3rd grade read 86,42 and in 4th grade, read 102.25 cwpm; 3) At the end of the basic education, on average, chose about six correct answers to the reading comprehension probe; 4) Gender had no impact in both fluency and reading comprehension in 2th and 4th grades, but there were differences in 3rd grade, with girls getting better results; 5) Across the three years, both in fluency and comprehension, the average achievement of students at risk is much lower than the average of the remaining students, while at the same time their performance is more homogeneous. The difference between groups grows throughout the three academic years; 6) At the end of the basic education, the use of the value of 83 cwpm accurately identifies about 60% of the students who did not demonstrate adequate understanding and about 96% of the students who understood what they read; 7) At the end of the basic education the fluency of reading explains about 50% of the variation of the results obtained in the reading comprehension; 8) Across the three years, the results of the two tests were proved to be reliable, with the items of the tests presenting good internal consistency. Additional results, as well as the social impact of this study will be presented and discussed at this poster section.

Deno, S. L. (1985). Curriculum-based measurement: The emerging alternative. Exceptional Children, 52(3), 219 – 232. Deno, S. L., Reschly, A. L., Lembke, E. S., Magnusson, D., Callender, S. A., Windram, H., et al. (2009). Developing a School-wide Progress Monitoring System. Psychology in the Schools, 46 (1), 44-55. Deno, S., Fuchs, L. S., Marston, D., & Shin, J. (2001). Using curriculum-based measurement to establish growth standards for students with learning disabilities. School Psychology Review, 30(4), 507-524. Fuchs, L.S., & Fuchs, D. (1997). Use of curriculum-based measurement in identifying students with disabilities. Focus on Exceptional Children, 30(3), 1-14. Padeliadu, S., & Antoniou, F. (2014). The relationship between reading comprehension, decoding, and fluency in Greek: a cross-sectional study. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 30(1), 1-31.