Test of Reading Comprehension, Fourth Edition (TORC-4)

Author(s): Virginia L. Brown, J. Lee Wiederholt & Donald D. Hammill A test of silent reading comprehension

The test at a glance:

Administration: 45 minutes or less Scores: Standard scores, percentiles, and composite reading comprehension index Qualification level: B,Q2-Level Publication Date: 2008 Ages / Grades: Children 7:0-17:11 years old

TORC-4 has five subtests, all of which measure word identification and contextual meaning:
Relational Vocabulary- The student reads three words and then silently read four more words. The student is to choose to of the four words that relate to the first three words. Sentence Completion- The student silently reads a sentence that is missing two words and then silently reads a list of word pairs. The student is to choose the word pair that best completes the sentence. Paragraph Construction- After silently reading a list of sentences that are not in logical order, the student must then rearrange the sentences to form a coherent paragraph. Text Comprehension- The student silently reads a short passage, and then answers five multiple-choice questions relative to the passage. Contextual Fluency- The student is required to identify individual words taken from the Text Comprehension Subtest.

Relational Vocabulary
The student will read three words in a box. Then the student will read a list of four words and choose two words that are most like the words in the box. This subtest measures a students knowledge of seven individual words as they relate or do not relate to each other. If the student does not answer correctly go over the example again. If the student cannot perform the task they will not be administered the subtest. The test will end and the administrator will move on to the next subtest. There are 47 items in this subtest.

Example: A student is given the words Red, Green and Blue in a box. The student then reads a list of four other words that are under the box. These words are Yellow, Circle, Orange and Light. The student must then choose the two words that are most like the four words in the box. The student will say the words orally and then they will be told to circle answer A and answer C in the test booklet.

Sentence Completion
The student will read a sentence that has two missing words. The student must then read a list of words pairs and choose a word pair that best completes the sentence. If the student does not answer correctly go over the example again. If the student cannot perform the task they will not be administered the subtest. The test will end and the administrator will move on to the next subtest. There are 52 items in this subtest.

Example: A____ can____. Think about the words that could go into the blanks in thesentence so that the sentence makes sense. Now read the 5 word pairs under thatsentence. Which of the two word pairs would make sense in the sentence? Thestudents response in this case would be answer C. Dog-run. Tell the student to circlethe answer C in the test booklet.

Paragraph Construction
The student will read a list of sentences that are not in a plausible order. The student will then rearrange a list to form a logical paragraph. This subtest measures the ability to order sentences into plausible paragraphs. If the student does not answer correctly go over the example again. If the student cannot perform the task they will not be administered the subtest. The test will end and the administrator will move on to the next subtest. There are 13 items in this subtest.

Example: The student will look at example one in their student question booklet. There are three sentences. Tell the student that the sentences are not in the right order and they do not make sense. Tell the student to listen carefully and think about how the sentences should be ordered. Ask the student what order makes the most sense to them and what sentence should go first, next, and last. Then the administrator repeats each sentence for the student the the student will orally tell which sentence goes first, next, and last. Then the student will circle the correct answer for the question in the student answer booklet. * For this subtest a student may score a 0,2,3,4,5. A student will score a 0 if they do not have any correct answers. For example of the correct answer is E B A D C. If a student responds C A D B E they will receive a 0. *Due to the fact that one sentence cannot relate to itself then a student is unable to score a 1. A student will score a 2 if they have two sentences in the correct order, for example, if a student responses E B C A D. A student will score a 3 for three correct sentences, 4 for four correct sentences and 5 if they place every sentence in order.

Text Comprehension
Students silently read five questions about the content of a passage that they are going to read. The student then reads the passage. Finally students answer the five question by selecting the best answer from a list of possibilities. If the student does not answer correctly go over the example again. If the student cannot perform the task they will not be administered the subtest. The test will end and the administrator will move on to the next subtest. There are 12 passages in this subtest. Each passage has 5 questions making it 60 questions total.

Example: The student reads the five questions to the story to themselves while the administrator reads them out loud. Then the student will read the story to themselves while the administer reads it aloud. Then the student answers the five questions that follow the story by circling the right answer in their student answer booklet.

Contextual Fluency
The student is given three minutes to correctly identify words within passages. The passages are printed in upper case without punctuation or spaces between the words. Students indicate their knowledge of words and context by correctly drawing a line between each word in the passage. If the student does not answer correctly go over the example again. If the student cannot perform the task they will not be administered the subtest. The test will end and the administrator will move on to the next subtest. There are 13 items in this subtest, with a total of 548 points.

Example: The student question booklet is not used. The items are printed in the StudentAnswer Booklet. The administer goes through example one with the student todemonstrate how you would draw the line to correctly separate the words. The studentwill also have to find four words that make a sentence and these words also run

together. Each time the students find four words they will draw a line after it. Example is: SEE/THE/RED/AND/BLUE/AND/YELLOW/BOATS/THESE/BOATS/GO/SO/FA ST/NOW/ A/BLUE/BOAT/IS/FIRST * The line must be between each word. If the line is partially drawn over a letter the student does not receive credit. If the student skipped a row do not score the subtest, instead re-administer it. For selfcorrections that are clear and correct the student will receive credit.