The document describes the Test of Reading Comprehension (TORC-3), which measures reading comprehension abilities in students ages 7-17. It aims to identify students struggling with reading, determine strengths/weaknesses, and measure progress from interventions. The TORC-3 consists of several subtests measuring vocabulary, syntax, paragraph comprehension, sentence ordering, and direction following. It provides scores in raw points, grade/age equivalents, percentiles, and standard scores to evaluate a student's reading level compared to peers. Consistency across subtests or weaknesses in specific areas can indicate needs. The TORC-3 was updated from previous versions to address criticisms around its normative sample.

1. Test of Reading Comprehension
By: Sami Napier & Sabrina Richardson

2.  To identify students whose scores are
significantly below those of their peers and who
might need interventions designed to improve
reading comprehension
 To determine areas of relative strength and
weakness across reading comprehension abilities
 To document overall progress in reading
development as a consequences of interventions
programs
 To serve as a measure for research efforts
designed to investigate reading comprehension

3.  Ages, 0-7 and 11-17
 Able to understand directions of subtests
 Able to formulate the necessary responses
 Able to read English

4.  No time limits
 The entire test varies from 30 minutes to 90
minutes
 The average time being an hour
 Each subtest generally takes 5-15 minutes

7.  Shorten testing time
 Avoid giving readers items that are too
difficult

8.  Purpose: to measure the reader’s
understanding of vocabulary that is related to
a general concept
 Description: 25 vocabulary questions
 Ceiling: reached when three (3) items in any
five-item sequence have been answered
incorrectly

10.  Purpose: to measure the reader’s
understanding of meaningfully similar but
syntactically different sentence structures
 Description: 20 questions
 Ceiling: reached when three (3) items in any
five-item sequence have been answered
incorrectly

12.  Purpose: ability to answer questions related to
the paragraph
 Description: 6 paragraphs with 5 questions
each
 The first question requires the student to choose the best
title that conveys the overall theme
 The second and fifth questions recall story details
 The third question makes an inference
 The fourth question makes a negative inference
 Ceiling: reached when two items or more
questions for any story are answered
incorrectly

14.  Purpose: measure the ability to order
sentences into a paragraph
 Description: 10 test questions
 Consisting of 5 randomly ordered sentences and the
reader has to put them in the correct order to form a
paragraph
 Ceiling: reached when any two items in a row
have a score of 3 or lower

16.  Purpose: understanding of mathematics
vocabulary
 Description: 25 test questions
 Ceiling: reached when three (3) items in any
five-item sequence have been answered
incorrectly

18.  Purpose: understand social studies
vocabulary
 Description: 25 test questions
 Ceiling: reached when three (3) items in any
five-item sequence have been answered
incorrectly

20.  Purpose: understanding of science vocabulary
 Description: 25 test questions
 Ceiling: reached when three (3) items in any
five-item sequence have been answered
incorrectly

22.  Purpose: measures understanding of written
directions commonly found in schoolwork
 Description: 25 test questions
 Consist of a printed command that the student has to
carry out on the answer sheet
 Ceiling: no ceiling, all items should be
accepted

24.  Raw Scores: total number of points correct
for each subtest
 Grade Equivalent: Indicates the reading
comprehension grade level that corresponds
to the raw score made by the student
 Age Equivalent: Indicates the age level that
corresponds to the raw score made by the
student
 Percentiles: Represent a value on a scale of
100 that indicates the percentage of the
distribution that is equal or below the value.
 Example: 90% of a 12 year old indicates that 90 % of the
sample at that age scored at or below the raw score.

25.  Subtest Standard Scores: These scores
provide the clearest indication of a person’s
subtest performance.
 Example: Standard score is 8 they are considered
average and approximately half (49.50%) of the
population is average
Standard Score Description % of Age Included
17-20 Very Superior 2.27
15-16 Superior 6.86
13-14 Above Average 16.12
8-12 Average 49.50
6-7 Below Average 16.12
4-5 Poor 6.86
1-3 Very Poor 2.27

26.  The Reading Comprehension Quotient
(RCQ):combination of General Vocabulary,
Syntactic Similarities, Paragraph Reading, and
Sentence Sequencing
 Most reliable, valid, and useful measure of
reading comprehension
Quotient Description % Age Included
>130 Very Superior 2.27
121-130 Superior 6.86
111-120 Above Average 16.12
90-110 Average 49.50
80-89 Below Average 16.12
70-79 Poor 6.86
< 70 Very Poor 2.27

30. 1. All subtest scores fall in a fairly narrow range
varying no more than 3 to 5 standard score
points. This means that the reader is
consistent in their reading competence.
2. Readers perform higher on reading
comprehension score subtests than on one or
more of the diagnostic supplements.
3. A reader performs significantly lower on one of
the reading comprehension core subtests.
4. A reader is inconsistent across the subtests.

31.  Reading comprehension is a complex mental
ability
 TORC-3 subtests were correlated with the
total scores of two intelligence tests
◦ Short-Form Test of Academic Aptitude
◦ Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised

32.  The previous TORC test received negative
criticism because it failed to describe the
characteristics of the normative sample in
regards to ethnicity, race and disabling
conditions. These issues were corrected in
the TORC-3