The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) has removed the reference to "90 words per minute" and "less than 5 errors per 20 words" in the
2024 Key Stage 2 Access Arrangements guidance, in order to provide teachers and school leaders with more flexibility on their judgements on this.
The STA has said "
This is because a judgement about reading fluency is complex, and not just limited to reading speed alone. It was felt that removing this would enable the consideration of other factors. For example, some teachers may have undertaken reading age tests of their pupils and choose to use those as a guide, some readers may cope better with texts that use technical language, some pupils may be better at accessing texts requiring greater inferential reading skills, and so on. Reading fluency is an overall judgement to be made by the teacher and the pupil’s teacher is best placed to make this decision.”