A study sought to create and pilot a reasonable method for estimating reading rate by grade level and level of reading proficiency within grade level, and to identify reasonable estimates of reading rate at independent, instructional, and frustration levels of reading. Data were elicited from 66 third grade and 64 fifth grade students attending two different public schools, one inner city and one suburban. Subjects were asked to read orally a passage of approximately 500 words taken from a social studies text one year above their grade placement. Results revealed that the correlation between reading rate and accuracy was positive and moderately high at both grade levels. Readers who had good word recognition tended to read at faster rates. The principal finding was that word recognition accuracy, a key factor in determining independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels, was successfully used in predicting reading rates for grades three and five. Findings suggest that researchers can determine reading rates that correspond to levels of difficulty for all grade levels. (One table of data is included; 18 references are attached.) (KEH)