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Tests of Reading Comprehension (TORCH)
Publisher: ACER Press 2003
Range: Years 3-10 and special needs groups
Purpose: To identify comprehension levels, to measure progress and to use content-referenced interpretation to identify those skills requiring further instruction.
Administration: Untimed, approximately 30 minutes - individual or group
This bestselling Australian test of reading comprehension has been fully revised and builds on the popular features of the original test with substantial improvements. Tests of Reading Comprehension (TORCH) is a professionally developed reading assessment that has been thoroughly pilot tested in Australian schools. It assists teachers to interpret performance in reading comprehension skills and provides the opportunity to compare student performance with an Australia-wide sample of over 7000 students from years 3 to 10.
TORCH can be used for a variety of purposes:
- As a broad estimate of reading achievement
- To help assess the extent to which objectives of the school's reading curriculum are being achieved
- As confirmation or to supplement other estimates of a student's achievement in reading
- To provide information which may be used in setting realistic goals and planning effective programs of work
- To identify students who are making unsatisfactory progress so that they may be given special diagnostic and remedial attention
- To locate areas of weakness and strength for individuals or within a class
- To monitor student reading achievement over time
- Australian
- All new normative data
- More information for teachers to select reading passages that are appropriate for students
- Descriptive report to assist teachers build a picture of a student's developing reading comprehension skills
- Graded fiction and non-fiction passages to meet class, group or individual needs
- Norm-referenced interpretation based reported in percentiles and stanines at each year level
- Content-referenced interpretation based on described levels of achievement
A set of twelve reading passages graded in order of difficulty, varying in length from 200 to 900 words, including fiction and non-fiction texts. Students read a passage and then use a cloze answer sheet to retell the passage, filling in the gaps in their own words to demonstrate understanding.
Year Level Norms Available:
Grasshoppers (non-fiction) Year 3
Lizards Love Eggs (fiction) Years 3, 4
At the Zoo (fiction) Years 3, 4
Feeding Puff (fiction) Years 3, 4
Donna Dingo (non-fiction) Years 3, 4, 5
The Cats (fiction) Years 4, 5, 6
The Swamp-Creature (fiction) Years 5, 6
Matches (non-fiction) Years 5, 6, 7
She's Crying (fiction) Years 5, 6, 7
The Accident (fiction) Years 6, 7, 8
The Red Ace of Spades (non-fiction) Years 7, 8, 9, 10
The Purple Children (fiction) Years 9, 10
Previous users of TORCH please note: The format of TORCH has changed with this second edition. The TORCH manual contains photocopiable masters for the Administration Guide, TORCH Report, TORCH Pattern of Response Forms and Described Regions on the TORCH Scale. Answer sheets are now purchased in consumable form. Each student completing TORCH requires an answer sheet.
See also: TORCH Plus and Teaching and Learning with TORCH
Note: These tests may only be purchased for School use by qualified Educational professionals.