Developed by Colin McCarty and Kate Ruttle
A major NEW series of reading tests mapped to APP and enabling termly progress assessment from Reception to Year 6
Progress in Reading Assessment (PiRA) is a standardised, curriculum-linked suite of tests designed for whole-class use and for pupils of all abilities. Uniquely, the series offers three tests for each primary school year, to monitor pupils’ progress term by term, and provides reliable, predictive and diagnostic information. Or you can pick the test(s) you want, to give you maximum flexibility to assess just at the beginning, middle or end of each year, if you prefer.
- simple and quick to administer and mark – taking just 30 to 40 minutes to assess a whole class;
- standardised scores, NC levels and reading ages, plus a diagnostic profile which supports Assessing Pupil’s Progress (APP), will give you a wealth of information and make you more effective in managing learning in your classroom;
- a decimalised PiRA scale score, based on the termly performance data of over 10,000 pupils nationally, lets you monitor small increments of progress and gives a reliable basis for predicting pupil progress and setting realistic targets;
- a separate test is available for autumn, spring and summer terms for Years 1–6, and for the spring and summer terms in Reception;
- attractively presented, to engage the children – the Key Stage One tests are produced in full colour.
PiRA DIGITAL CD-ROM (View Demo | View sample screens )
By using the optional PiRA DIGITALCD-ROM, you can unlock even more diagnostic information. If you are using the pencil-and-paper tests, this digital resource lets you analyse group performance (eg by class and/or gender), track pupil performance through the school and generate individual progress predictions. And if you want some or all of your pupil year groups to take the tests on-screen, in full colour and with instant marking and diagnostic reporting, with PiRA DIGITAL you can unlock that fully interactive option too!
PiRA DIGITAL in its basic version provides a networkable scoring, profiling and analysis facility – for all twenty PiRA tests – which is not time-limited: use it in conjunction with the pencil-and paper tests, with all of your pupils, for as long as you wish!
OR you can unlock the full interactive option to assess some or all of your pupils on-screen – the interactive version comes with a two-year site licence, with pricing according to school size. More information.
Year group (in England & Wales) |
PiRA Stage One |
Covers |
Norms for chronological ages (years:months) |
Reception |
P6–1a |
4:3 to 7:2* |
|
P6–1a |
4:7 to 7:2* |
||
Year 1 |
P6–2c |
5:0 to 6:10 |
|
P7–2b |
5:3 to 7:1 |
||
P7–2a |
5:7 to 7:3 |
||
Year 2 |
P7–3c |
6:0 to 7:10 |
|
P8–3b |
6:3 to 8:1 |
||
1a–3a |
6:7 to 8:3 |
||
PiRA Stage Two |
|||
Year 3 |
1b–3a |
7:0 to 8:10 |
|
1a–4c |
7:3 to 9:1 |
||
1a–4c |
7:7 to 9:3 |
||
Year 4 |
1a–4b |
8:0 to 9:10 |
|
2c–4a |
8:3 to 10:1 |
||
2b–4a |
8:7 to 10:3 |
||
Year 5 |
2a–5c |
9:0 to 10:10 |
|
2a–5c |
9:3 to 11:1 |
||
3c–5c |
9:7 to 11:3 |
||
Year 6 |
3c–5c |
10:0 to 11:10 |
|
3c–5b |
10:3 to 12:1 |
||
3c–5b |
10:7 to 12:3 |
* extended norms allow easy use in mixed-age early years classes and with older, weaker readers
Why use PiRA?
PiRA gives reliable summative information. For example:
- if you want to follow the progress of your pupils from term to term, as well as year to year through the primary school, PiRA– uniquely – provides three carefully designed tests for each year;
- if you need to establish a National Curriculum level for each pupil, PiRA tests are calibrated to indicate National Curriculum levels which are further subdivided into upper, middle and lower (a, b and c) to provide a finer level of information;
- if you wish to use a test to support APP, PiRA tests are also calibrated to indicate levels subdivided into high, secure and low (H, S and L);
- if you wish to set appropriate and meaningful targets for your pupils, and then to ensure they keep on track, PiRA tests provide an empirical basis on which to do so;
- if you need to have an external reference for your value-added requirements, PiRA tests supply it.
Also, because it has a diagnostic capability, PiRA enables you to investigate some of the strengths and weaknesses of your pupils’ reading skills.
The PiRA tests profile the core skills which underpin progress in reading, reflecting the Assessment Focuses (AFs) which are defined within APP:
- Phonics – decoding and extracting meaning of text (AF1)
- Literal comprehension – literal understanding and retrieval from text (AF2)
- Reading for meaning – inference and prediction from text (AF3)
- Appreciation of reading (AFs 4–7)
Varied reading passages engage pupil interest and assess pupils’ reading of different text types or genres – fiction, various forms of non-fiction, poetry and playscripts – in line with the recommendations of the Primary Literacy Framework.
The photocopiable PiRA profile allows you to recognise a pupil’s gradual transition from phonic decoding to literal and inferential comprehension and appreciation of reading. Using the profile, you can build a fuller picture of each pupil’s performances that will help you follow progress.
You can also review the performance of pupils on each question – against the percentage of pupils that answered each question correctly in the national standardisation – so that you can easily relate the performance of your own pupils to national standards.
Using the termly performance data of over 10,000 pupils nationally, the PiRA tests have been statistically linked from term to term and year to year to show a clear set of information, enabling you to monitor strengths and weaknesses and track progress through the whole primary phase, while also enabling detailed comparisons of individual patterns of performance against the norms and patterns for the term or year.
Underpinning all this, the decimalised PiRA scale score lets you monitor small increments of progress from term to term and gives a reliable basis for predicting pupil progress and setting appropriate targets.
The spread of the tests allows you to use each test with wide-ability groups, including less able readers, and allows all pupils to experience some success. Very poor readers may benefit from taking tests for ‘younger’ terms or even years, where they are more likely to experience success and be able to demonstrate what they know and understand. Conversely, tests for ‘older’ terms or years can be used with above-average readers.
In short, PiRA will help you to answer parents, governors, inspectors or headteachers who ask:
- How has my child done compared to others of his or her age or year group?
- Has this pupil made good progress from year to year?
- What would be a reasonable level of achievement for this pupil next term?
- What are the strengths or successes of this pupil, or the class?
- What individual and class targets are appropriate and realistic?
- On what aspects of reading should this pupil focus to maximise progress?
- What would constitute good, average or poor progress for this pupil or class?
