A Test of Everyday Reading Comprehension (TERC)

The aim of this study was to develop a standardised test of everyday reading comprehension for children in Australian schools. To this end, we developed two forms for the Test of Everyday Comprehension (TERC) and developed norms for children aged 6 to 12 and in grades 1 to 6. Measures of parallel form reliability indicated that the two TERC forms were equal in difficulty and measured a common concept. Measures of inter-rater reliability indicated that scoring the two TERC forms was simple enough to minimise differences between testers. Ideally, the TERC should be used (1) as a screening test for poor reading comprehension in primary-school children and (2) as a tool to communicate to parents the impact that a child's reading difficulty can have on their everyday life. Poor performance on the TERC should be followed-up by tests that target other aspects of the child's reading and language skills to locate the source of their reading comprehension problem.