With current trends in education and the increased emphasis on standardized test data, today's classrooms are increasingly achievement-oriented. While few argue for the importance of improving classroom instruction and the rationale associated with basing instruction on desired student outcomes, this one-size-fits-all approach is not without its detractors. Today, many elementary teachers feel pressured to move forward with teaching content even when they cannot personally believe that there are students in their classes who have not sufficiently mastered the skill. This practice is particularly problematic because it concerns the teaching of reading and reading fluency. It is a widely accepted belief among educators and educational researchers that not all children progress at the same rate. However, with the current emphasis on test score data guiding instructional strategies, many teachers educate their students as if they actually did it. My personal opinion is that students should determine my teaching and instructional strategies, and that my teaching practices should change based on the needs of my students. Over the years, different philosophies of teaching reading have emerged, changed, disappeared, transformed, and re-emerged. Strategies included sight words, phonetic approaches, whole language, along with different combinations of all of these strategies. With the advent of No Child Left Behind in 2001, reading instruction, along with reading instruction in general, began to place a greater emphasis on “standards-based instruction.” This type of instruction has continued and is now emulated in the new Common Core Standards. The trick for educators was how to cover the required material in... half a sheet of paper... provide an appropriately structured environment to achieve these goals. Although all of the articles I read discussed strategies for improving reading fluency in different types of contexts, they all emphasized the importance of basing instructional strategies on students' needs rather than on a set curriculum. Works CitedFenty, N. S., McDuffie-Landrum, K., & Fisher, G. (2012). Using collaborative relationships, co-teaching, and question-answering to improve content area literacy. Teaching Exceptional Children, 44(6), 28-37.Ortlieb, E., Grandstaff-Beckers, G., & Cheek, E. H. (2012). Promote excellence in reading at every grade level through reading courses. Clearinghouse, 85(1), 1-6. doi:10.1080/00098655.2011.601356Sanden, S. (2012). Independent reading: Perspectives and practices of highly effective teachers. Reading Teacher, 66(3), 222-231. doi:10.1002/TRTR.01120