Our evidence-informed reading intervention supports pupils to make accelerated progress in reading comprehension whilst encouraging them to rediscover a love of reading.
What is reading fluency?
Reading fluency is defined as being a combination of automaticity, accuracy and prosody.
When a reader can apply these three components to a text which is appropriately pitched for them, then they can be described as a fluent reader.
Reading fluency matters
The National Literacy Trust estimates that approximately one quarter of children left primary school in 2022 unable to read at the expected standard.
Gill Jones, Ofsted Deputy Director for Early Education says, “If pupils are not able to read to an age-appropriate level and fluency, they will be incapable of accessing the rest of the curriculum, and they will rapidly fall behind their peers.”
Reading fluency for better learning
Successfully adopted by UK-wide institutions since 2017, HFL Education’s evidence-informed reading intervention is designed to support struggling readers to make swift progress towards reaching age-related expectations. The transformational teaching strategies used in the project are based on a combination of well-evidenced methods.
HFL Reading Fluency Project CPD and training
Our Reading Fluency Project works to significantly improve outcomes for pupils and is designed to help equip teachers to improve fluency and comprehension in a short space of time, across primary and secondary phases of education. The suite of key stage specific projects are based on a combination of well-evidenced strategies including:
- modelled expert prosody
- repeated reading
- echo reading
- text marking
- performance reading
- modelled comprehension
We have extensive experience in working with schools across the country, multi-academy trusts and English Hubs in implementing and embedding HFL’s Reading Fluency Project. Depending on your individual requirements, we have several ways in which you can join, including; one-day courses, 8-week programme, bespoke offerings and follow up support.
(EEF) Education Endowment Foundation and HFL reading fluency resources
We are constantly reviewing and improving our Reading Fluency Project based on new research and programme outcomes. In the summer of 2022, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in collaboration with HFL, published three new tools: Reading Fluency Glossary , Reading Fluency Misconceptions and 'Reading Fluency Resource' , all designed to support practitioners in developing their pupils’ reading fluency. In September 2024, The DfE and the EEF funded an efficacy trial of the Reading Fluency Project.
Compelling outcomes
KS1 Programme outcomes:
- 17 months progress in reading comprehension age*, including:
- 76% of pupils with more than six months of progress
- 66% of pupils move up at least one book band and make 11 months of progress in reading accuracy
KS2 Programme outcomes (average):
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2 years and 3 months progress in reading comprehension and gain an increase in reading accuracy on 13 months*
KS3 Programme outcomes (average):
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18 months progress in reading comprehension*
KS4 Programme outcomes (average):
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2 years and 8 months progress in reading comprehension age*.
*Statistics based on data collected for over 2000 pupils using the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension.
Maintenance package
If your school has engaged in the HFL Reading Fluency Project and you would like to prevent slippage or a drift away from fidelity, then please consider our maintenance package.
Such a positive, productive morning spent with our HFL Education Project Adviser discussing impact from our fluency project and identifying next steps for us as a school to further improve reading outcomes. Thank you - so insightful and supportive!
Abbey Kershaw – English Lead, Worsborough Common
Email: reading.fluency@hfleducation.org to find out more.
Our national literacy campaign this year has had a specific focus on mobilising the evidence on developing reading fluency. As such, we wanted to reach out to other experts in this field, such as Professor Tim Rasinski and colleagues from HFL Education, because we knew their knowledge and feedback would be invaluable when producing resources for schools to use. We are pleased with the fluency tools created and thank HFL for their contributions and feedback.
Sarah Green, Literary Content Specialist at Education Endowment Foundation
Sharing our findings about reading fluency
We are keen to share the findings of our work widely in order to benefit as many pupils as possible; we do this through our partnership work with local authorities, English Hubs, school improvement organisations, trusts and schools.
What are the three elements of reading fluency and how do we teach them in primary schools? And crucially, how do we support children who struggle? Kathy Roe who leads the Reading Fluency Project at HFL Education advises in this Headteacher Update article.
We recognise the vital importance of collaboration and regularly work with world-renowned experts in the field to extend our thinking and inform our work.
The Reading Fluency Project: Raising Reading Achievement in the UK, (pdf) authored by Kathy Roe, Penny Slater (HFL Education) and Abbey Galeza and Timothy Rasinski (Kent State University, USA) showcases the Reading Fluency Project's impact in the prestigious Iris Journal of Educational Research.
Kathy Roe and Penny Slater, teamed up with the esteemed Dr Tim Rasinski, professor emeritus at Kent State University, to coin a Literacy Today article on reading fluency instruction. Alongside doctoral student, Abbey Galeza, they reported on the KS2 HFL Reading Fluency Project which supports readers aged 9 to 11 years old.
Our EdTalks podcast with Alex Quigley and Sarah Green from the Education Endowment Foundation. HFL Primary English Advisers, Kathy Roe and Juliet McCullion interview guests from the renowned Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) about all things reading fluency.
We regularly share our latest learnings on reading fluency in our HFL English blogs
This was the most successful and enjoyable training I have been on my whole career. Our outcomes were stunning and all tutors, presenters were amazingly helpful and clear. Communication was easy and quick. Training sessions were 100% useful and incredibly helpful. I particularly benefited from the 1:1 coaching sessions.
Alice Smith, K2 at St. Andrew's Junior School, Hatfield Peverel, Essex
I could see it working with KS2 students but how would those on the edge of teenagerdom cope? …In reality, this was not an issue. The HfL team had recommended to just ‘go in’ with energy, pace and an expectation that everyone would join in and this really worked…they really loved the power of having a pencil and ‘text marking’ as we read.
Catherine Root, K3 at Stationers' Crown Woods Academy, Southeast London
We have been on a journey to promote a love of books and reading across all areas of our setting. The team have taken the Succeeding with Reading learning on board and found the reading audit particularly helpful in inspiring a ‘rethink’ of our provision and shared spaces.
EY leader, Garden Fields Primary School