SPaRCS Test Kits
€85.00 – €290.00
The SPaRCS is the new UK and Irish normed standardised group test of Spelling, Processing speed and Reading Comprehension Speed. Perfect for teachers struggling to find suitable, time-saving and up-to-date tests for students to complete. Highly suitable for access arrangement applications (reader, scribe and extra time) and an excellent tool for year group screening in order to identify students that may need additional support and intervention.
Age: 13 – 18 year olds
Administration Time: approx. 40 minutes for the entire test (subtest can be given individually)
Mode: Pen and Paper
Authors: Dr Kate James; Rebecca Good and Trevor James
Restriction level: Low
Suitable for: Teachers, SENCo’s, Psychologists
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The SPaRCS was created to provide teachers with an up-to-date, accurate, valuable and time-saving assessment tool that can quickly identify students needing additional support and intervention and an ideal tool that will identify those that may qualify for access arrangements in their examinations. The SPaRCS can be used in a group setting (e.g. whole class screening) to assess those core academic and thinking skills that students need to perform effectively in school and exams - Spelling, Processing Speed, and Reading Comprehension Speed (SPaRCS). The test has been normed with the UK and Irish populations and demonstrates excellent reliability. The main benefits of the SPaRCS are:
- Speedy (administered comfortably in one 40-minute class period!)
- Produces reliable standard scores
- Access Arrangements - apply for 25% extra time, reader, and scribe in the UK.
- Reliable -
- Cost-effective - Very affordable
- Selective - can identify students needing intervention that may otherwise fly under the radar.
What’s Included in the SPaRCS complete kit?
- 1 x SPaRCS manual
- 1 x 25 pack SPaRCS student response booklets
Watch this short YouTube video on the SPaRCS test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gJqvxMl8uY&feature=youtu.be
Subtest Overview
Spelling:
- Single word spelling test.
- Administration time = 10- 15 minutes approx.
- Description: Examiner orally presents up to 40 single words. Students write the spellings of each—no time limit.
Processing Speed:
- Letter & digit matching task.
- Administration time = 2 minutes.
- Description: Strict time limit applied. The student works quickly through an essential matching and copying task with alphabet letters and numbers. Accurate timing is critical.
Reading Comprehension Speed:
- Short passage reading and cloze test.
- Administration time = 10 minutes.
- Description: Strict time limit applied. The student works quickly, reading through a series of short passages with some words missing. The student must read for meaning (comprehension) and circle the correct missing words from a list of 4-5 words supplied with each passage. Accurate timing is essential.
2 reviews for SPaRCS Test Kits
Click to read SPaRCS Case Study Boys Boarding School in Kent, England
Click to read Strathearn School SPaRCS Case Study
SPaRCS Subtests Overview
Spelling:
- Single word spelling test.
- Administration time = 10- 15 minutes approx.
- Description: Examiner orally presents up to 40 single words. Students write the spellings of each—no time limit.
Processing Speed:
- Letter & digit matching task.
- Administration time = 2 minutes.
- Description: Strict time limit applied. The student works quickly through an essential matching and copying task with alphabet letters and numbers. Accurate timing is critical.
Reading Comprehension Speed:
- Short passage reading and cloze test.
- Administration time = 10 minutes.
- Description: Strict time limit applied. The student works quickly, reading through a series of short passages with some words missing. The student must be Suitable for meaning (comprehension) and circle the correct missing words from a list of 4-5 words supplied with each passage. Accurate timing is essential.
Standardisation, Reliability, Validity
Testing to establish norms was carried out in schools in the UK (Northern Ireland) and the Republic of Ireland in 2016. Participants were 2332 students aged 13:0 to 18:11 years. There were no exclusionary criteria, and even those who were not fluent in English took part in the testing. The sample did not include any special schools, but pupils in special classes were included. The ratio of boys to girls was approximately equal.
Validity
The SPaRCS has excellent validity as an assessment tool. This suggests that the SPaRCS correctly measures the constructs it was designed to measure. Validity measures utilised for the SPaRCS included content, construct, and criterion. Concerning the latter, very high correlations were reported between the SPaRCS spelling test and three other commonly used tests (WIAT-II UK = .92; WRAT4 = .90; Diagnostic Spelling Test = .88).
Reliability
Test-retest and internal consistency reliabilities were utilised.
Spelling: = .89;
Reading Comprehension Speed: = .90;
Processing Speed: = 0.84
Inter-Rater Agreement
Spelling: 94 spelling tests were marked by two people independently. An agreement rate of over 99.5% was found. (Scoring of the Reading Comprehension Speed test and the Processing Speed test is entirely objective, and there should be little possibility of differences in interpretation between different examiners).
Shipping Times to Ireland / Northern Ireland
1-2 working days Shipping & Handling costs Ireland: €22.50 / £22.50
Shipping times to mainland UK
3-5 working days Shipping & Handling expenses mainland UK: £25
Laura Fitzgerald –
Love it! Quick and easy test administration. It can be given in groups which is excellent and also has the processing speed assessment which is really useful as other tests on the market is too old to use. Overall I would highly recommend the test but I do wish that it had a writing speed component 🙁
Sarah McAndrew (verified owner) –
Excellent! Super easy to administer and score. I could not be happier (my only wish is that it was standardised for younger students as I would go on a testing blitz across school!)