Group Reading Scales
NEW
Denis Vincent and Mary Crumpler
The Group Reading Scales (GRS) provide quick, standardised measures of reading ability, for use in primary and secondary schools. Two overlapping pencil-and-paper tests – both with parallel forms A and B – together cover ages 7 to 16+:
The tests assess reading comprehension via multiple-choice sentence-completion questions which require pupils to use both grammatical and semantic cues, and which are very easy both to administer and score:
GRS 1, for ages 5:0–13:2, is designed principally for use in primary school, and for screening pupils on transfer to secondary school;
GRS 2, for ages 9:0–16+, differentiates across the full ability range in the secondary phase.
The tests take just 30 minutes, and may be used at any time in the year. They are suited for all of the main purposes for which standardised sentence-reading tests are customarily employed, including screening, grouping, assessing improvement, evaluating teaching, and year-on-year standards monitoring.
Norms based on the reading ability of more than 10,000 primary and secondary pupils express performance as standardised scores, reading ages and National Curriculum levels.
The pencil-and-paper GRS test forms are designed for hand-scoring, making it easy to detect unusual patterns of answers, with an optional Scorer/Profiler CD-ROM to facilitate score conversions, generate group performance analyses and listings, and track individual pupil progress.
A range of user services is available from the test developers for schools wishing to update their existing test to GRS and for larger-scale users wanting local norms (please note these services are offered by the developers and not by Hodder Education).
The Adaptive Reading Scales are available for users wanting fully on-screen testing which ‘adapts’ to individual pupil ability and gives instant scoring, reporting and group performance analyses.
Please click on the links below to find out more about each title:
GRS 1, Form A
GRS 1, Form B
GRS 2, Form A
GRS 2, Form B
Manual
Specimen Set
Scorer/Profiler CD-ROM (view Demo)
Adaptive Reading Scales (networkable)
Purpose-designed for on-screen, standardised reading assessment, the Adaptive Reading Scales enable individual progress tracking and whole-school performance monitoring from age 7 to 16+. Over 400 carefully calibrated questions allow regular re-testing.
The program ‘adapts’ optimally to match each pupil’s own ability, ensuring that the questions are neither too easy nor inappropriately difficult, making it especially suitable for use with mixed ability groups.
- over 400 questions cover the full age/ability range
- offers fully standardised on-screen assessment plus instant, accurate scoring, networked for whole-school use
- automatically calculates standardised scores, reading ages and equivalent National Curriculum levels
- generates a comprehensive range of individual and group reading performance analyses and reports, by class or whole yeargroup
- flags reading ages which are a year or more behind chronological age
- includes audio-supported instructions for younger and less able pupils.
The program is fully networkable, sets no limit to the number of pupil records, and comes with a two-year licence. A comprehensive User’s Manual (supplied as a pdf file on the CD-ROM) gives full information on how to install, use and get the most out of the system.
