Hi Amyjo….

First grader are expected to read 30 words per minute
Second grader are expected to read 60 words per minute
Third grader are expected to read 90 words per minute
 
(See link below for more information.)

These numbers are high or low depending on how you look at them.  Each state may differ in their requirements but I know that in California, these are words read per minutes without mistakes and reading content at a child’s grade level.  These factors actually make the above numbers look very high.

There is no correlation between a child’s speed of reading and his/her reading comprehension or between a child’s speed of reading and his/her academic performance and intelligence.  It’s more important that a child understand what he or she read and not how fast he or she read.

Test for reading speed only looks at "reading frequency" and not comprehension.  There is a separate test that looks at a child's knowledge of sight words (vocabulary) and their reading comprehension.

Hope this helps!

Vicki

Sorry!  I forgot to include the link.

its suppose to be over 77 or being 77

Hi amyjo,

I've never heard of timing a child's reading speed.  Accuracy and comprehension is what is important, especially in 3rd grade.

Reading speed however will vary depending on the material they are reading and if they are reading aloud or silently.  If they are reading challenging material (as they should be), it takes time to identify the word by using their phonic skills and sounding it out or by looking for clues in the text.  They may even need to refer to a dictionary.  My daughter is in 3rd grade, and our class focus is  on use of dictionary, phonic awareness and comprehension.  Speed has never been mentioned, nor would I think it would be.  

We read a minimum of 20 minutes a night from miscellaneous material.  Some of the books are easy to read, others are challenging.  This gives a good diversity to reinforce what they know, and to be introduced to new words.  She reads aloud, so I can hear how she pronounces a word, if she is skipping words or changing the text.  I look for smoothness as she reads, some readers, especially if they are mostly silent readers have a choppy reading habit when they read aloud.  You want smooth reading.  Also, they should be able to change their reading tone to match the punctuation.  

Question your child about the material they've read, who was the main character, what was the plot of the story, what was the setting, was their a problem, how was the problem solved, etc. to see what they are comprehending.  

To answer your question, speed is not an accurate way to test their abilities.

Hope this helps!

At the school I work at, we use the following guidelines for "average number of correct words per minute" for a 3rd Grader.

Fall- 71
Winter- 92
Spring- 107
*These numbers come from a book called "The Next Step in Guided Reading", written by Jan Richardson. (I would highly recommend it to any teacher wishing to observe and teach small reading groups with a more critical eye.  It's a very teacher-friendly, no-nonsense book for assessing, grouping, and instructing every child where they're at.)

The reason we test for reading rate (correct words per minute) is because it's indicative of a couple of things.  If a child is reading a larger number of correct words quickly, it's indicative that the child is using good strategic activity to figure out words quickly while they are reading.  We also do notice a correlation (although there are many "outliers") between good reading rate and good comprehension.  The reason we see this correlation is because students who have good reading rate typically read with good expression and phrase the words they say quickly, smoothly, and appropriately (as opposed to reading mono-toned and one word at a time, slowly).  These behaviors are evidence that the reader is thinking about the meaning of the story (or they wouldn't be able to predict how a character would say something) and they have a rich knowledge about how "book language" works and sounds (as opposed to the "slang" most of us use regardless of where we live.)
Also, if a reader can read quickly, it gives the brain more opportunities to strengthen the connections it makes in less time than it takes a slower reader.  (That is why we tend to see slower readers as having a disadvantage and try to encourage more fluent reading.  Given the same amount of time as a faster reader, they can only get through a small amount of text using efficient "processing strategies" as opposed to the massive amount of text the faster reader can get through... and you know what they say, practice makes permanant.)

Please note that I said "correlation" and "indicative" a lot.  Reading is much more complex than most people (even elementary teachers) take into consideration.  Young readers are having to "sound out" unknown words quickly, check it against their spoken language to make sure it sounds appropriate, check it against what they know about the story at that point in time, all while trying to create meaning from or figure out the message the author is trying to relay.  There is a lot going on in that little brain that we can't possible see, so observing multiple reading behaviors is our best chance of figuring out what's going on in there.

Reading rate alone is not an accurate assessment of a reader's capabilities and it is mostly likely being used to "screen" or "monitor" your child in the classroom since it's quick and can be "normed" for comparison against other student averages.

In order to get a clear picture of where you're child is at, please think about the following:
-Listen to how the reading sounds (Does it sound like he/she is telling a story, or does it sound like they are trying to figure out every other word?)
-How accurate is the reading? (Are they leaving more than 95% of the words correct?  If so, that's a good sign.)
-Are they fixing most of their errors? (a good ratio would be that they fix atleast 1 out of every 5 mistakes... hey, nobody really reads 100% accurate all the time!)
-Do they understand what they are reading?  (By 3rd grade, this includes knowing the characters, setting, plot as well as starting to think about what the characters are feeling and why they might react a certain way.  You may also want to start talking about why the author chooses to write a certain way.)

If you're worried about your son's classroom performance, the best thing you can do for him is get him to read massive amounts of text at a "just right" level.  
It's important to understand that "reading work" doesn't have to be "hard work".  Nobody I know would pick up a medical book for leisure reading, and yet we process the text around us very efficiently.  Why should we expect our children to read difficult text all the time?  They get about as much benefit from that as most of us would get from picking up a random medical journal.  It would be difficult because we don't understand half the words and we don't have the background experience to pull much meaning from that article.  Wouldn't that just take the joy out of reading if that's what we were forced to read all the time?
An easier sounding book where your child is fixing most of their mistakes gives him the opportunity to "decode" the text efficiently and effectively.  The more his brain has the opportunity to strengthen these connections, the faster it should happen.

Happy reading!

well my daughter is a second grader and she reads 148 word per minute  and best reader in the class 3rd graders should read 148 my daughter is a forth grade level a 3 grader i wold say 100

its not how fast your reading its that your stoping at periods and using good expression

All because your daughter reads 148 words a minute doesn't mean that that is what others should do.  Stick to the facts.  Ask the reading dept at your school and they will definitely tell you where your child should be and how to work on it.  All because you can read fast doesn't mean you understand what is going on!  Comprehension is more important!!!

In Mississippi, the requirement is 100 to 115 words per minute.

My 2nd grade students are expected to read 90 wpm by the end of the year with 85% comprehension.  (expectation set by the State of Texas)

Most students achieve this goal and read between 120-150 wpm by the end of the year.  By our state standards your child seems to be a struggling reader and in need of intervention tutoring.

about 80 or 90