Oral Reading Fluency Norms by Grade and Season
These oral reading fluency norms, compiled by Hasbrouck and Tindal in 2017, give words correct per minute at the 10th to 90th percentiles for grades 1–6.
Grade 2 winter, 72 WCPM → 25th–50th percentile
25th–50th percentile
72 WCPM in grade 2 winter is between the 25th (59) and 50th (84) percentiles.
Source: Behavioral Research and TeachingLast verified Oct 19, 2026
Show the norms for this grade and season
| Percentile | WCPM |
|---|---|
| 90th percentile | 131 WCPM |
| 75th percentile | 109 WCPM |
| 50th percentile | 84 WCPM |
| Your student | 72 WCPM |
| 25th percentile | 59 WCPM |
| 10th percentile | 35 WCPM |
How the authors describe using these norms: compare a student's score with the norms for their grade at the same point in the year (screening), or check it often and graph it against a goal (progress monitoring). The authors also say the compiled norms help keep a low-performing school or district from setting its benchmarks too low.
Source: Hasbrouck & Tindal (2017), Technical Report No. 1702, Table 4, restated in our own layout.
ORF norms at a glance
- Grades covered
- Grades 1–6 (grade 1 from winter)
- Times of year
- Fall, winter and spring (beginning, middle and end of the school year)
- Percentiles published
- 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th
- Student scores behind the norms
- 6,886,582 scores
Source: Behavioral Research and Teaching
Good to know
- Compare with the season you tested in. Norms rise through the year, so a fall score checked against spring norms looks lower than it is; pick the season that matches the date of the reading.
- Check which edition a printed chart shows. Older charts may show the 2006 numbers, and the 2017 update raised some norms by as much as 26 WCPM, so an old chart can place a student higher than the current norms would.
Common questions
What is a good WCPM for 2nd grade?
In the Hasbrouck & Tindal (2017) norms, the grade 2 winter 50th percentile is 84 WCPM, and the 25th to 75th percentile range runs from 59 to 109 WCPM. Pick fall or spring above to see the norms for those seasons.
Are there fluency norms for grade 1 in the fall?
Not in these norms. The 2017 Hasbrouck & Tindal norms start in winter of grade 1 and run through grade 6.
What do the percentile numbers mean?
A percentile shows where a score sits among the compiled scores: in grade 2 winter, 59 WCPM is the 25th percentile, so roughly a quarter of those scores were at or below it. Each number is averaged across three assessments' own published norms. Only the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles are published, so a score is placed in a band between two points.
Where do the Hasbrouck and Tindal norms come from?
They were compiled from 6,886,582 scores on DIBELS 6th Edition, DIBELS Next and easyCBM, and published in 2017 as Technical Report No. 1702 by Behavioral Research and Teaching at the University of Oregon.
How should teachers use these norms?
The authors describe two uses: screening, which compares a student with peers in fall, winter or spring, and progress monitoring, with frequent checks graphed against a goal. In screening, they say students “below or significantly below benchmark” are “at possible risk of reading difficulties” and are good candidates for further assessment of their reading skills. The report doesn't tie those words to a percentile point.
Source for these answers: Behavioral Research and Teaching
Every fact and source behind the Hasbrouck and Tindal fluency norms
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Grade 1 fall norms | None in this report: grade 1 starts in winter |
| Words correct per minute by grade, season and percentile | 17 grade-and-season rows at 5 percentiles; this page shows the row for the grade and season you pick |
| Reading time behind each score | 60 seconds |
| Assessments the norms were compiled from | DIBELS 6th Edition (2009–10 data), DIBELS Next (2010–11 data) and easyCBM (2013–14 data) |
| How the numbers were combined | Each assessment's own published percentile scores were averaged across the three assessments |
| What the authors say the norms are for | Screening (comparing a student with peers at three points in the year) and progress monitoring |
| Largest gain over the 2006 norms, grades 1–5 | 26 WCPM |
| Published by | Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon (Technical Report No. 1702, 2017) |
Source: Behavioral Research and Teaching
How it works
Pick the student's grade and the season you tested in. The norms give words correct per minute at five percentile points, and a student's score is placed at or between those points. Nothing is interpolated, so the answer is a band, not an exact percentile.
Band = the two published percentile points (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th) that the student's WCPM falls between
- Score a 1-minute reading of an unpracticed passage: words read minus errors.
- Choose the student's grade (1–6) and the season: fall, winter or spring. Grade 1 starts in winter.
- Find the highest published point at or below the score; the next point up is the top of the band.
- A score under the 10th percentile point or over the 90th percentile point has an open-ended band.
Worked example (checked against Table 4 of the report)
- Grade 2, winter, student reads 72 WCPM
- Grade 2 winter points: 10th 35 · 25th 59 · 50th 84 · 75th 109 · 90th 131
- 72 is at or above 59 (25th) and below 84 (50th)
Between the 25th and 50th percentiles
Related: WCPM calculator
What this doesn't account for
- Your school's own benchmark goals or cut points, which can differ from these compiled norms
- Students outside grades 1–6, or grade 1 in the fall: the 2017 norms don't cover them
- An exact percentile between the published points: only five points are published, so the result is a band
- Scores from practiced passages, or from readings that weren't one minute long
Sources
Verified by
Checked by CountOnTools against its official sources on Oct 19, 2026. How we verify
Before and after this step
CountOnTools is not affiliated with the University of Oregon. The University of Oregon did not review or endorse this page.