Elise Cronin & Kaleen Schultz

Elise Cronin & Kaleen Schultz

TORC-4

What it is:

·  The TORC is a measure of silent reading comprehension. The test consists of five subtests.

What it is used for:

·  The TORC-4 is appropriate for individuals who vary widely in the type of English they speak.

·  TORC is intended for identifying children who score significantly below their peers. This gives us a better understanding if they need help in improving reading skills. TORC is also used for documenting student progress.

·  The TORC is meant to measure word identification and contextual meaning. The overall score from the subtest will give an appropriate approximation of students reading comprehension abilities.

Who it is for:

·  The TORC-4 should only be given to individuals between ages 7-0 and 17-11

o  Individuals must be capable of understanding the tests directions and formulate responses prior to taking the test

Norming:

"The TORC was normed on a sample of 1,942 persons in 14 states." For each major standardized site, the site coordinator hired experienced personnel to administer the test. The standardization sites were chosen to ensure representation in the four regions of the U.S. The results gave a sample that is to represent the nation.

·  The characteristics of the sample are reported in regards to gender, race, geographic region, Hispanic status, family income, exceptionality status, and educational level of parents.

Drawbacks: The drawbacks are listed under each subtest section.

Subtest 1

Relational Vocabulary

v  The student reads 3 words that are related to each other, and then the student reads a different list of four words and chooses 2 words that are related to the original three words.

v  This measures the readers understanding of sets of vocabulary items that are associated with the same general concept.

v  Student is not timed; rather the test administrator observes the student's responses and notes if they're correct or incorrect. Once the student has met the subtest's ceiling, the test is stopped.

Materials / Student booklet and answer sheet, examiner book and record sheet, pencils
Basal / Begins at item 1.
Ceiling / When 3 in any 5 consecutive items are scored incorrect
Scoring / ·  Correct item scored as 1
·  Incorrect item scored as 0
·  Student must circle BOTH items correctly to receive score of 1. If BOTH items are not circled then they receive a 0
·  The raw score is the number of correct items including the last correct item in the last five consecutive items

v  Validity: Having a vocabulary subtest contributes to the validity of this test because vocabulary knowledge is critical to reading comprehension for three reasons:

1.  We read and understand text through our knowledge of word meanings as they stand alone as well as in context.

2.  Vocabulary is embedded in specific topics and knowledge of a topic helps with comprehension.

3.  Vocabulary, reading and general intellectual ability are highly correlated.

v  Limitations:

o  It is difficult to watch the student mark their responses while looking to see if they have reached the ceiling.

Subtest 2

Sentence Completion

v  The student reads a sentence that is missing two words. The student then reads a list of word pairs and chooses the best fit for the sentence.

v  This subtest measures the students “understanding of interaction with sentence structure, vocabulary and implied context.”

v  The student is not timed. The instructions are read to the student, the instructor goes through the examples with the student. If the student cannot get the examples correct, subtest two is skipped. If the student can correctly complete the examples the subtest is given. The test is stopped once the ceiling is reached.

v  This subtest uses the cloze procedure which has the student fill in missing words in the passage.

Materials / Student booklet and answer sheet, examiner book and record sheet, pencils
Basal / Begins at item 1.
Ceiling / When 3 in any 5 consecutive items are scored incorrect
Scoring / ·  Correct item scored as 1, incorrect item scored as 0
·  The raw score is the number of correct items up to and including the last item passed in the five-item sequence.

v  Validity: This subtest contributes to the validity of the TORC by incorporating sentence completion. Good readers know which words make sense within context and which words do not make sense. In addition, good readers are able to predict which word will make sense based on context. Lastly, readers should be able to identify which words will complete a sentence.

v  Limitations:

o  It can be difficult to look at the student’s sheet from a comfortable distance while watching for the ceiling to be reached. This needs to be done without interfering with the student; however, it is important we see when they meet the ceiling.

Subtest 3

Paragraph Construction

v  The student reads a list of sentences which are in the wrong order. The student must think about how the order should go. The student will then be asked to rearrange the sentences into an order that makes sense.

v  This allows us to measure the reader’s ability to construct meaningful paragraphs.

v  The examiner does not time the student. The instructions are read to the student. Then, the examiner and student go through the examples. The subtest is then started. There are 3 to 5 sentences the student must put into order. The subtest is over when the ceiling is reached.

Materials / Student booklet and answer sheet, examiner book and record sheet, pencils
Basal/Ceiling / When less than three points on any two consecutive items is scored, beginning with item four.
Scoring / ·  A score of 0, 2, 3, 4 or 5 is possible for each passage.
·  A student receives 2 points if two sentences have been sequentially ordered.
·  3 points are given if 3 sentences have been sequentially ordered.
·  4 points are given if a student successfully orders 4 sentences in a row or has 2 sets of 2 sequentially ordered sentences.
·  5 points are given when the student successfully orders all 5 sentences, or, the student sequentially orders 2 sentences and 3 sentences.
·  The raw score is the total number of points the student receives up to and including the ceiling item.

v  Validity: This subtest shows validity by measuring the ability to order sentences into plausible paragraphs. Reading comprehension requires us to understand how sentences relate to each other and how those sentences create a short story without a model. Ordering sentences in a logically constructed paragraph has readers demonstrating their ability to create a coherent cognitive framework in the absence of a model or title.

v  Limitations:

o  This subtest is really hard to score while the student is taking the test.

o  The scoring instructions are complex. The student can score 0,2,3,4 or 5 points for each passage. It is difficult to see the order of each response and calculate the appropriate points earned while the student is working.

Subtest 4

Text Comprehension

v  The student will be read the instructions by the examiner. The examiner will go through the first example with the student. The subtest requires the student to answer questions based on a short story.

v  This subtest measures the reader’s ability to answer questions about the content of stories that become progressively more difficult.

v  The test is not timed. If the student has trouble correctly answering the example questions, the examiner needs to go over the example again. The test is then allowed to start. The subtest is done when the ceiling is reached.

Materials / Student booklet and answer sheet, examiner book and record sheet, pencils
Basal / Begins at 1
Ceiling / When any three questions are missed (scored 0) in each of three consecutive stories.
Scoring / ·  Correct answer is 1.
·  Incorrect answer is 0.
·  The raw score is the total number of points the student receives.

v  Validity: This subtest shows validity by measuring the reader’s ability to answer questions about the content of stories in passages. The passages include testing in the areas of vocabulary, grammar and content. The method in subtest 4 is one of the most widely used formats for assessing reading comprehension. The approaches taken in the subtest such as reviewing the questions before the story is read, and skimming an article or story are relevant to real life and therefore reflect a valid approach to reading comprehension assessments.

v  Limitations:

o  The paragraphs start out short and progressively get long. The tests become very long; therefore, if a student is a slow reader, the test could take longer than anticipated to complete.

o 

Subtest 5

Contextual Fluency

v  This subtest is designed to measure the speed that students can recognize words without spacing. Students draw a line to separate one word from the next.

v  Subtest 5 measures the student’s ability to single out words in a continuous string of letters that can be sorted into words.

v  The items are printed in the student answer booklet rather than the student question booklet. The examiner will read the manual and work through the example with the student. This subtest is timed. The test stops at exactly 3 minutes.

Materials / Student answer booklet, examiner book and record sheet, pencils, stop watch
Basal
Ceiling / Begins at 1
Three Minutes
Scoring / ·  Do not score unless the student successfully completes the examples and shows understanding of the task on the practice item.
·  Begin scoring with the last row that the student attempted.
·  Each correctly identified word is worth 1 point.
·  Score backward until you reach the spot at which the student has correctly identified all the words in a passage or until all words have been scored.
·  Scoring key is in Appendix E.
·  Raw score is the total number of correctly identified words.
·  Scoring concerns are listed in the limitations section of this board.

v  Validity: The passages used on this subtest are the same as those on the Text Comprehension subtest; therefore, the student is more apt to have familiarity with the content of the passages in this subtest. This allows consistency with the idea that familiarity of context plays an ideal role in reading. Fluency is a main and fundamental aspect of reading comprehension.

v  Limitations:

o  The directions for this subtest are somewhat unclear. The administer is supposed to write on the students answer sheet when going through the examples. The directions state the administer of the test is to teach the task to the student if the student does not understand the example. There is an example script for teaching the task to the student, located at the bottom of the directions. However, If the administer does not explain the task well to a confused student, it may affect the performance of the student.

Test Interpretation

Derived Scores: The TORC-4 examiner record form has section two set aside for recording. Raw scores, age equivalents, grade equivalents, and percentile ranks are the derived scores found in this test. A derived score is a group of scores that allows us to compare between test scores.

o  Age: Age equivalents are derived from the average scores of all students who took the exam in the norm sample. The raw scores that relate to the 50th percentile for each age was then determined. Those raw scores were plotted on a graph, lines connected the average scores. It was then determined the age that corresponded to each possible raw score.

o  Grade: Found similar to age equivalents, the average raw score at four intervals for each grade was computed and graphed. Lines connecting the average scores had to be smoothed which then allowed the grade level to correlate to each possible raw score.

o  Percentile rank: These indicate the percentage of the distribution that is at or below a certain score.

Scoring: The results are interpreted using the Appendix in the back of the examiners manual.

o  Age and Grade Equivalence: Age and grade equivalencies for raw scores are found using Appendix C and D

§  In each subtest, a raw score is documented. The raw score corresponds to an age and grade for each subtest in the appendix.

§  For example: a student’s raw score in the subtest of Sentence Completion gave a 21. This shows an age equivalency of 10-3. This means the student performed consistent with the students in the normative sample who were 10 years and 3 months old. The grade equivalency for a raw score of 21 in the same subtest gave 5.0. This means the student performed close to that of students in the norm sample who were in the first month of fifth grade.

o  Percentile Rank: The table in appendix A and B that corresponds to the student’s age is used to interpret the percentile rank.

§  Say we want to find a student’s percentile rank for the same subtest above, the raw score of 21 shows a percentile rank of 50. This means that 50% of the norm sample scored at or below the students score.

o  Scaled Scores: Standard scores for the subtests are called scaled scores.

§  To find the scaled score for each subtest, the examiner consults Appendix A. The tables are based on the age of the student.

§  For a student at the age of 10-7, the examiner would use table A.8 in the back of the examiners manual. The raw score from each subtest corresponds with a scaled score.

§  The TORC-4 scaled scores have a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of 3.

Results: The Reading Comprehension Index (RCI) is a composite of the scaled scores from the 5 individual subtests. The RCI is found by combining the results of the five subtests. The subtests measure related but different areas of reading comprehension.

o  There are descriptive terms that correspond to specific score ranges. The terms are as follows:

§  Very superior (scaled score of 17-20) (RCI >130)

§  Superior (scaled score of 15-16) (RCI 121-130)