WCPM Goal Setter for Reading Fluency

How the weekly target works

To set a WCPM goal, subtract the student's current score from the target, then divide by the weeks available: weekly growth needed = (target WCPM - current WCPM) / weeks. The Goal Setter above does this math for you. Then compare the result with the published weekly growth rate for the student's grade in the table below. The tool needs a target above the current score and a date in the future.

Weekly growth rates by grade

Fuchs and colleagues tracked students' weekly growth on curriculum-based measures, including oral reading fluency, across a school year in grades 1-6. They used those growth rates to recommend a realistic and an ambitious weekly goal for each grade.

Source: Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Hamlett, C. L., Walz, L., & Germann, G. (1993). Formative evaluation of academic progress: How much growth can we expect? School Psychology Review, 22(1), 27-48. The article is paywalled, so we checked these values against Read Naturally (grades 1-6) and the Texas Education Agency Grade 3 Literacy Achievement Academy fluency guide (grades 1-5). Grade 6 appears only in the Read Naturally source. The published table stops at grade 6, so there is no Fuchs rate for grades 7 and 8.

Worked examples

The calculator's color label uses fixed cut points. It does not know the student's grade. These two examples show why you should always check the weekly gain against the table above.

Example A. A grade 2 student reads 40 WCPM in mid-January. Spring norms for grade 2 are 72 WCPM at the 25th percentile and 100 at the 50th (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 2017). A target of 70 in 16 weeks needs about 1.9 WCPM per week, between the grade 2 realistic and ambitious rates, so the team should plan strong instruction and close progress monitoring. A target of 70 would still sit just below the 25th percentile of 72, so it is a catch-up goal, not a grade-level one.

Example B. A grade 5 student reads 110 WCPM. The target is 128 in 18 weeks, which needs 1.0 WCPM per week. The tool shows green because 1.0 is at or below its fixed cutoff of 1 WCPM per week. But the grade 5 ambitious rate is 0.8. This goal asks for more growth than the published ambitious rate, so treat it as aggressive. Lengthen the timeline or lower the target.

How to pick the target

1. Get a baseline. Give three one-minute probes and use the median score as the current WCPM. The WCPM Calculator scores each probe.
2. Compare with norms. Check the baseline against the spring benchmarks for the grade in the oral reading fluency norms table.
3. Test the weekly gain. Enter the baseline, target and date in the Goal Setter. Compare the weekly gain with the grade table, not just the color.
4. No target yet? If you know the baseline and the number of weeks but not the target, use the IEP reading fluency goal generator.
5. Track it. Plot each probe against the aimline in the Progress Tracker.

For IEP wording, see reading fluency IEP goals and SMART goal examples.