What is in each test?

YARC Early Reading is comprised of the following tests:

• Letter Sound Knowledge, which assesses alphabetic knowledge;
• Early Word Recognition, which assesses single word reading;
• Sound Isolation, which assesses phoneme awareness;
• Sound Deletion, which also assesses phoneme awareness.

These tests take about five minutes each to administer and are designed to break down the component skills of reading, allowing you to identify any underlying difficulties that pupils may be experiencing in acquiring knowledge of letter sounds and phoneme awareness. These tests provide standardised scores, percentile ranks and age-equivalent scores for word reading, letter sound knowledge and phoneme awareness to allow you to find precise areas to target in order to bring about rapid progress.

The YARC Early Reading tests may be given as a complete set of all four tests or as individual tests. The reason for a pupil’s assessment will determine the selection of tests.

This test is comprised of two parallel sets of graded passages (A and B) for reading aloud. Each passage is accompanied by a set of eight comprehension questions to determine literal and inferential comprehension skills.

The first passage (Beginner Level) has an interactive reading format whereby the test administrator reads one sentence, and the pupil reads the next. Half of the comprehension questions are based on information that the pupil has read (reading comprehension) and half are based on information that the test administrator has read (listening comprehension). Levels 1 to 6 alternate between fiction and non-fiction passages.

This test is designed to be used with children aged 5 to 11 years and takes about 10 to 15 minutes to administer. It is suitable for use by teachers and special educational needs co-ordinators (SENDCos). It provides reading ages and standard scores for reading accuracy, rate and comprehension.

A version of our Single Word Reading Test is also included with the Passage Reading tests as a benchmarking test. The test has students read from a page of words, which increase in difficulty as the test progresses. From the raw score, the teacher can determine the appropriate starting passage for the Passage Reading assessment. See Choosing a test type and level for more information.

YARC Passage Reading is comprised of two parallel sets of graded passages (A and B) for silent reading. At each level of difficulty, students read one fiction and one non-fiction passage. Each passage is accompanied by a set of 13 comprehension questions to determine literal and inferential comprehension skills plus a summarisation question to assess the student’s ability to identify the main points in the passage.

YARC Passage Reading also includes two supplementary passages to assess reading in students who are experiencing reading difficulties. In addition, there is a test of Reading Fluency and an extended and re-standardised version of the Single Word Reading Test (SWRT). As well as providing scores for single word reading skills, the SWRT can be used to determine the starting passage level for YARC Passage Reading.

Teachers and special educational needs co-ordinators (SENDCOs) can administer the test to individual students in about 20 to 30 minutes. The test is an individually administered reading test designed to assess the accuracy, rate and comprehension of reading in secondary school students.

A version of our Single Word Reading Test is also included with the Passage Reading tests as a benchmarking test. The test has students read from a page of words, which increase in difficulty as the test progresses. From the raw score, the teacher can determine the appropriate starting passage for the Passage Reading assessment. See Choosing a test type and level for more information.