The Nelson-Denny Reading Test is a valid and reliable measure of silent reading vocabulary, comprehension, and rate. It includes two parallel forms, Form I and Form J, that have been equated and can be used interchangeably as pretests and posttests.
Core Subtests and Composite
- Vocabulary—Students are presented with an opening statement and five answer choices; for example, “A chef works with A. bricks B. music C. clothes D. food E. statues.” Students select the option that best completes the opening statement.
- Comprehension—The Comprehension subtest consists of seven reading passages and 36 comprehension questions, each with five answer choices. The reading passages are drawn from current textbooks in Humanities, Science, and Social Sciences. Students are instructed to read as many passages and answer as many comprehension questions as they can.
- General Reading Ability—This composite is derived by combining index scores from the Vocabulary and Comprehension subtests to achieve a stronger and more reliable index of overall reading ability.
Supplemental Subtest
- Reading Rate—The Reading Rate score is obtained by requesting that students record in the margin the number that corresponds to the last sentence they were reading in Passage 1 of the Comprehension subtest after exactly 1 minute. Students are instructed to read at their normal rate, neither faster nor slower than usual.
Features
- Aids in accurate placement of high school and college students at all reading levels
- Uses all-new vocabulary items and comprehension passages drawn from current high school and college texts
- Offers optional extended-time administration to meet the needs of special populations, such as English-language learners
- Yields scores as grade and age equivalents, percentile ranks, and index scores (mean of 100, standard deviation of 15)
- Based on all-new normative data collected between 2013 and 2018
- Reports all-new reliability and validity studies, including new studies of differential item functioning and diagnostic accuracy
- Provides all-new passage-dependence evidence indicating 90% of the Comprehension items are passage dependent
- Includes self-scorable answer sheets and complimentary online scoring using a fully HIPPA/FERPA compliant, secure, and encrypted cloud-based environment
Statistical Characteristics
Age-based normative data (N = 4,010) are provided for students ages 14 years 0 months (14-0) through 24 years 11 months (24-11) enrolled in high school, 2-year, or 4-year university programs. Grade-based normative data (N = 3,487) are provided for students of any age who are enrolled in high school, 2-year, or 4-year university programs. The normative samples were stratified to match 2017 U.S. population estimates. For both forms, average internal consistency (content sampling) reliability coefficients range from .85 to .95 (very large to nearly perfect). Average alternate-form reliability ranges from .88 to .94 (very large to nearly perfect). Average test–retest reliability ranges from .89 to .98 (very large to nearly perfect). Correlations with well-known reading measures range from .47 to .84 (moderate to very large). Diagnostic accuracy studies indicate that the NDRT is able to accurately identify students with reading difficulties (sensitivity = .73, specificity = .80, ROC/AUC = .88) with few false positives.
NDRT Online Administration, Scoring, and Report System
The NDRT Online Administration, Scoring, and Report System is optional and allows for both compuer administration and item-level and subtest-level raw score data entry. It quickly calculates and reports all scores. Personal score reports or a Class Record Sheet can be generated for editing, printing, or saving. A complete NDRT Examiner’s Manual is accessible through the Help menu. The NDRT Online Administration, Scoring, and Report System operates in a fully HIPPA/FERPA compliant, secure, and encrypted cloud-based environment.
System Requirements:
- PC or Mac™ desktop or laptop computer
- High-speed/broadband Internet connection
- Web browser with support for HTML5 (Internet Explorer 9 or higher, Firefox 24 or higher, Safari 6.0 or higher, Google Chrome 34 or higher, Opera 22 or higher)
- Must enable Javascript
The NDRT Complete Kit contains the physical components (forms, scoring sheets, and manual with administration instructions) and also includes complimentary access to the NDRT Online Scoring and Report System with 50 uses for the purpose of importing your manual/printed scores. Online Administrations may be purchased separately at any time if you would like to do online administrations through the NDRT Online Scoring and Report System.
The NDRT Computer Administered Kit is online only (no physical components) providing access to the NDRT Online Administration, Scoring, and Report System and includes 50 online administrations.
NDRT Additional Online Administrations (50) provides 50 additional online administrations for use with the NDRT Online Administration, Scoring, and Report System.
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