Reading speed in Elementary School and Junior High.

Purpose: To verify the influence of schooling on reading speed measures in Elementary School and Junior High, also aims to explore the levels of accuracy of the variables of reading speed in the epidemiological investigation stages of cases.

Methods: 535 students from the 2nd to the 9th grade from a private school and a state school system participated in the study. The oral reading of a simple text was evaluated in the following parameters: words read per minute and correctly words read per minute. Descriptive statistics and T-test measures with the significance of 5% were conducted, besides the z-score, standardized and individual.

Results: The results corroborate the literature review which shows an increase in reading speed with the progression of schooling. The reading fluency was presented in the construction process between the 2nd and 7th grades, with stabilization from the 7th year. A more fluent and homogeneous reading was sedimented between the 7th and 9th grades. The study proposes the interpretation of the findings with scales suggestive of the deficit using the z-score. The data are stratified from values suggestive of significant deficit to non-suggestive, with a total of five strata. The stratification allows a clearer reference on which point the scholar found in the expected ranges for their schooling.

Conclusion: The measures of the expected values according to schooling are essential for better-quality knowledge of reading development, to provide reference standards for adequate monitoring in the clinical and educational sphere and prediction of reading skills and difficulties.