This is our second article on the critical role of fluency, written with district leaders and their challenges in mind. For a teacher‑focused version – complete with practical ways to embed fluency in your reading block – read this: Fluency Is the Bridge to Comprehension – and It Deserves a Bigger Role in Your Reading Block.
For years, district leaders have invested heavily in strengthening early literacy instruction. Science of Reading initiatives, updated phonics curricula, and universal screening have reshaped how schools approach foundational reading skills.
Yet many districts are still facing a familiar (and quite frustrating) reality:
intervention lists keep growing, comprehension gaps persist, and MTSS systems remain stretched.
If that sounds familiar, the issue may not be what you’re teaching, but what’s missing in Tier 1 instruction.
The overlooked role of fluency
Fluency is often misunderstood as reading speed or treated as a byproduct of phonics instruction. In practice, fluency is something much more critical.
Fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension, which is why our instruction should focus on making that bridge strong and reliable.
Students may decode accurately, but when reading lacks automaticity – appearing slow, labored, or disfluent – cognitive energy is consumed by word recognition instead of meaning-making. When that happens, comprehension suffers, even when phonics instruction is strong.
From a district perspective, this has real consequences:
- Benchmark data flags large percentages of students as below proficiency
- Tier 2 and Tier 3 caseloads expand
- Intervention staffing and costs increase
- Teachers spend more time remediating skills that could have been secured earlier
Whilst it’s easy to view this as a classroom‑level problem, the real challenge sits at the Tier 1 systems level.
Why fluency is a Tier 1 and MTSS imperative
Within an effective Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), Tier 1 instruction should meet the needs of approximately 80% of students.
When fluency is explicitly embedded into core literacy instruction, it functions as prevention, reducing the number of students who require supplemental and intensive supports.
However, when fluency is inconsistent or overlooked, districts often see:
- Repeated intervention cycles for the same students
- Overreliance on remediation
- Unsustainable MTSS models that strain staff and budgets
In other words,
weak fluency instruction pushes preventable challenges downstream, where they are more expensive and harder to solve.
What the research tells us
Decades of literacy research consistently point to fluency as a foundational component of skilled reading, not just an add-on for the few minutes of classroom time that remain.
Research-based frameworks such as:
- the Simple View of Reading
- Scarborough’s Reading Rope
- and the Active View of Reading
all reinforce the same conclusion:
Students must be able to read accurately, automatically, and with appropriate expressionin order tocomprehend complex text.
Fluency enables students to integrate word recognition and language comprehension efficiently. Without it, even strong instruction in other areas fails to translate into reading proficiency.
Fluency is a leadership decision, not just an instructional strategy
While fluency is taught in classrooms, how it is prioritized is determined at the system level.
District leaders play a critical role by asking:
- Is fluency explicitly defined within our Tier 1 literacy expectations?
- Do our core programs provide structured opportunities for guided oral reading?
- Are teachers supported with professional learning that goes beyond assessing fluency to teaching it?
- Does our data suggest fluency-related barriers that could be addressed earlier?
When fluency is treated as a non-negotiable component of Tier 1 instruction, districts create more coherent, equitable, and sustainable literacy systems.
A deeper look: building the bridge to comprehension
To help district leaders explore this issue in depth, literacy researcher and practitioner Dr. Lynne Kulich has authored a new thought-leadership paper, Building the Bridge to Comprehension.
The paper examines:
- Why fluency is often misunderstood or underemphasized
- How fluency functions as a Tier 1 prevention lever within MTSS
- Evidence-based fluency practices that scale across classrooms
- Why strengthening fluency reduces long-term intervention demand
Rather than focusing on classroom tactics alone, the piece frames fluency as a strategic investment – one that supports comprehension, equity, and MTSS sustainability.
Strengthening Tier 1 starts with the right questions
It’s not more interventions districts need – it’s a stronger Tier 1 foundation.
By examining how fluency is addressed within Tier 1 instruction – across curriculum, professional learning, and instructional time – leaders can reduce reliance on remediation and ensure more students access grade-level content successfully.
If comprehension is the goal, fluency can’t be treated as an extra. Without strong fluency, the bridge to comprehension simply isn’t there.
Download the full paper: Building the Bridge to Comprehension
Explore how fluency strengthens Tier 1 instruction and supports a more sustainable MTSS: download your free copy today.
