Passage Development

The passages used for the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) probes were drawn from the participating school system’s reading curriculum. Teachers were asked to identify books that they expected average readers to read by the end of the year. Passages were selected that varied in length depending on grade level. The Harrison-Jacobson Wide Range Readability Formula (Harris & Sipay, 1985) was used to ascertain that the passages reflected end-of-year reading levels (i.e., 1.5 - 2.2; 2.5 - 3.2; 3.5 - 4.2; 4.5 - 5.2). Standard CBM procedures were used to administer and score the probes.