English Reading

The New Drumcondra Primary Reading Test (New DPRT)

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The New DPRT is the leading Irish standardised reading test, developed specifically for group administration in Irish primary schools.

Divided into six Levels with parallel Forms for pupils from 1st Class to 6th Class.
Standardised in spring 2018 on Irish primary school students.
The test expertly addresses the objectives of the 1999 Primary School English Curriculum, while also reflecting the anticipated learning outcomes and spirit of the new Primary Language Curriculum.
Designed to increase engagement during testing by appealing to children at the target grade levels, reflecting the diverse population of primary schools in Ireland today.
Features professionally designed, full-colour images.
Total testing time is approximately 90-100 minutes for each level of the New DPRT (this includes a break of 5 minutes, which can be longer if desired).

Reporting

DPRT Level 1 – Screening Test

It is recommended that this test be administered to small groups of pupils (~ 8) where possible. Provides a standard score as well as a criterion-referenced report. STen scores and percentile ranks are not reported for this grade level. As well as an overall reading report, results are broken down by:

Word Analysis
Vocabulary
Comprehension (each of which is assessed by a variety of item types).

DPRT Level 2

Designed to be administered to full class groups. Raw scores, standard scores, STen scores and percentile ranks can be computed for:

Overall Reading
Reading Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension – Sentence Comprehension and Passage Comprehension.

DPRT Level 3–6

Designed to be administered to full class groups. Raw scores, standard scores, STen scores and percentile ranks can be computed for:

Overall Reading
Reading Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension – Comprehension can be broken down by text type (Literary and Informational) and by process type (Retrieve/Infer and Interpret/Evaluate).

Test administration

Pupils at Levels 1 and 2 mark their answers directly into their test booklets. These are hand-scored by the teacher.

Pupils at Levels 3 to 6 use answer sheets. The test booklets are reusable at these levels. Levels 3 to 6 can be administered simultaneously to multi-grade classes. Teachers have the option of hand-scoring or using our machine scoring service.

Spring & Autumn testing

The norms for the New DPRT are spring norms in line with government guidance. The tests may be used the following autumn if schools wish to do so e.g. for pupils at the start of 4th class, Level 3 tests can be used. Please note that this does not constitute an exact comparison of like with like, however differences between spring and autumn are likely to be minor.

Currently, the New DPRT does not have a test-wide scale.

Drumcondra Primary Reading Test (Online)

The New Drumcondra Primary Reading Test is a set of curriculum-based standardised assessments of reading achievement for primary school pupils in Ireland. Online versions of the test are available for pupils in Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth classes. Test content has been newly developed and standardised, meaning that the norms accurately reflect current achievement levels in Irish schools.

At each grade level, the online test has three parallel Forms. Each Form comprises vocabulary items and reading comprehension items. The comprehension items are based on a broad variety of texts, and assess a broad range of cognitive process skills. All content, including the commissioned illustrations, has been selected specifically to engage and appeal to children in Ireland in the target age groups, and to reflect the diversity of our primary schools today.

Schools administering the online tests can generate automated reports immediately after testing, at no extra cost. As well as overall scores, reports provide separate scores for Vocabulary and Comprehension. The Comprehension scores are also broken down to show how pupils performed on different text types (Literary vs Informational), and on different kinds of comprehension processes (Retrieve & Infer vs Interpret & Evaluate).

Test Features

Standardised on a nationally representative sample in spring 2018
Duration: 70 minutes (two sections of 35 minutes each). Allow an extra ~ 10 minutes for login and practice sections, and an extra ~ 10 minutes for the break between sections.
Target groups: pupils nearing the end of Third class, Fourth class, Fifth class, and Sixth class
Designed for easy group administration
Automated scoring and reporting

80 multiple-choice questions
Test is divided into two sections, each with 40 questions (20 vocabulary, 20 comprehension)
A broad variety of literary and informational text types has been selected
Each comprehension item requires a particular cognitive process (retrieval, inference, interpretation, or evaluation)

Sample Reading test reports

Class/Group reports summarising each pupil's performance including subscale