If you've ever listened in as your child worked through the read along step in One Minute Reader, you may have noticed that the narrator reader the stories at a relatively slow pace. Some parents might wonder if the speed is too slow, especially when fluency is the goal. Should the stories be modeled at a pace similar to normal conversation?

Not exactly. Extensive research into modeled reading rates for developing readers has shown that slower rates result in improved accuracy for students. The Read Along step is where children truly learn the words of the story. The slower pace allows them to connect the way a word looks with the way it sounds—a crucial aspect of becoming fluent. If children can’t keep up with the modeled pace, they miss out on this important opportunity to develop word recognition.

With this in mind, One Minute Reader stories are recorded at a rate close to the 50th percentile according to national oral reading fluency norms at the given level. It is recommended that most students read along with the recording three times during the Read Along step, but you can adjust that number in the profile settings if your child is ready to go down to just one or two.

After learning to accurately read the words in the story, children continue to build fluency by reading the story several times during the Read Alone step. Because they learned the words during the Read Along step, they can work on reading fluently—or "reading like they speak"—during the Read Alone step and increase their speed. This combination of modeling and repeated reading, along with the motivation of progress monitoring, helps turn struggling readers into fluent readers.