November 2026 Product Update: Refer a Teacher, the Fluency Landscape, and Swipe the Sound Wall
Refer a teacher and you both get credits. The Fluency Landscape shows ORF norms in 3D, and the norms are coming to the app. Swipe the Sound Wall is a new free digital sound wall. Also: a first look at assignments, Reports out of beta, and a new address for the app.
This month, we started the Refer a Teacher program. Our featured lab is The Fluency Landscape, and it is coming to the app. We also made a new lab, Swipe the Sound Wall. It goes with The Sound Table, last month's featured lab. And we give a first look at assignments, which bring reading practice into the app.
Refer a teacher, and you both get credits
Most teachers find ReadingFluency.app because a colleague showed it to them. Now you get credits when you share it.
- In the app, open the profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar.
- Choose Refer a Teacher.
- Pick a handle. Your link is
readingfluency.app/r/your-handle. - Copy the link, or share it by email.
| When your colleague... | Credits |
|---|---|
| Creates an account from your link | They get 50, on top of the usual 150 |
| Subscribes to Teacher Plus monthly | You get 300 |
| Subscribes to Teacher Plus annual | You get 500 |
Rewards are credits, not cash, and referral credits do not expire. One recording uses 1 credit, and an AI score uses 2, so 300 credits is about 100 scored readings.
The Refer a Teacher tutorial shows each step. The Referral Program Terms give the rules.
Featured lab: The Fluency Landscape (grades 1–6)
The Fluency Landscape shows the Hasbrouck and Tindal (2017) oral reading fluency norms as a 3D landscape. Each grade is a block. The height is words correct per minute (WCPM). The bright ridge is the 50th percentile.
- Put in one score to see its percentile for the grade and the season.
- Put in three scores, for fall, winter, and spring, to see a growth path.
- Paste a class list to see all your students at once.
- Use the table. The full norms table and a CSV download are below the 3D view.
Scores that you type stay on your device.
The same score can mean different things. In grade 1 spring, 100 WCPM is between the 75th and 90th percentiles. In grade 2 spring, it is the 50th percentile. In grade 5 spring, it is below the 10th percentile. Show this at a data meeting, in a PLC, or to a parent.
Coming to the app
Next, we will bring these norms into ReadingFluency.app. We are still deciding where they will show. One idea is the reports: when a student reads a grade 3 passage, the report compares the score with the grade 3 norms. The app already has the score, so you will not type it in again.
The norms are for English, so English passages will get them first.
New lab: Swipe the Sound Wall (grades K–2)
Swipe the Sound Wall shows the 44 sounds of English as a feed that scrolls like short videos. Swipe up for the next sound. Swipe sideways to see each way to spell it, with a picture for each spelling.
It goes with The Sound Table, our featured lab last month. The two labs use the same sounds, pictures, recordings, and mouth drawings. Use The Sound Table to see all 44 sounds at once and sort them. Use Swipe the Sound Wall to teach or review one sound at a time.
- One part per tap. A slide shows the sound and the mouth, then the spelling, then the word, then the picture. Students read the spelling and decode the word before the picture gives the answer. The settings have presets for Teach a new sound, Review, and Show all.
- Your teaching order. Go through the sounds in a common teaching order that starts with /m/, or in UFLI Foundations order. The wall can also group the sounds by UFLI lesson.
- Search. Find a sound by a spelling, a word, or a UFLI lesson number.
- Phone or projector. On a wide screen, the lab changes to a projector layout, and a clicker moves through the slides.
- Install it as an app. Add it to the home screen of a phone or tablet. It works offline.
The Sound Table has new things too. Its example words now have pictures. Its Order layout can show UFLI Foundations order, and each sound's card shows the UFLI lesson that teaches it.
What we changed from your feedback
A teacher told us that an AI score "seemed off." The student restarted, repeated words, paused, and added a word, and the score did not count these as errors. That follows the usual ORF rules, but the report did not say so.
Now the How it's calculated note on each report lists what counts as an error and what does not. It links to a new guide, What counts as a reading error. The guide compares the rules of DIBELS 8, Acadience ORF, and running records.
Coming next: assignments
In April, we said that we wanted to help with reading practice, not only with assessment. Assignments are the first step.
You will give a passage or a collection to a group or to some students, with a due date. Students open one link for your class and read on their own. They do not need an account. You will see who has read, and the app will score each reading as it does now. If you choose, a student can see the score and a short note right after reading.
With assignments, students can practice between your benchmark checks, and you see each reading.
We are still planning assignments. Do you want to help us design them? Send an email to support@readingfluency.app with Assignments in the subject line.
Also new
- A new address for the app: the app is now at readingfluency.app, with our guides and labs. Old links and bookmarks still work. You may need to sign in one more time.
- Reports: Reports is no longer in beta.
- A faster dashboard: when you go back to the dashboard from a passage, it shows right away. Students and Passages also open faster.
- AI scoring: AI analysis is more reliable. If an analysis does not finish, you get its credits back.
- Passage import: importing a passage from a photo or a scan is more reliable.
- 立体拼音表, The Mandarin Sound Table: example characters now have watercolor pictures. A picture lights up while its recording plays.
Tell us what you think
Send a short email to support@readingfluency.app. Write App in the subject line for the app, Labs for the labs, or Referral for the referral program.
Do you know a teacher who might like ReadingFluency.app? Send them your referral link, and you both get credits.
See what this could look like in your classroom.
If you want to spend less time on assessment logistics and more time helping students read, these pages show a few practical ways ReadingFluency.app can help.
The Fluency Landscape shows one score against the norms. The app keeps all scores for all students.
Each report now tells you what counts as an error. The AI marks the words, and you check them.
After you teach a sound on the sound wall, make a passage at the correct grade to practice it.
Ready to try it with a real student passage?
You can start a reading fluency assessment in about 30 seconds, then keep the passage, score, and follow-up notes together in one place.
Start in 30s