MICRA-T

The MICRA-T (Mary Immaculate Reading Attainment Test) is Ireland’s leading reading test. The principal purpose of the test is to provide Irish Primary school teachers with accurate information on the reading levels of pupils in their classes. In particular, the tests enable teachers to compare the reading performances of their pupils with reading standards nationally. The MICRA-T was first developed in 1988 under the aegis of the Curriculum Development Unit, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. The entire series of tests was redeveloped during 2001 and 2002. The revised tests retain most of the successful features of the original tests while also incorporating numerous improvements. The redeveloped tests were standardised on a nationally representative sample of more than 10,000 pupils during the 2002-2003 school year, thus providing up-to-date norms. The range of usage for each level is as follows:

• Level 1 – First Class
• Level 2 – Second & Third Class
• Level 3 – Fourth Class
• Level 4 – Fifth & Sixth Class

A key strength of the tests is that they have been carefully constructed to ensure that their difficulty levels are suitable for children of all reading abilities – from the least able to the most able. Distinguished by their attractive layout and high colour content, the tests are visually appealing to pupils, a factor that is important in securing pupil interest. The tests have been available to schools since mid-January 2004 and can only be obtained from the publisher, CJ Fallon. The tests are accompanied by four Teacher’s Manuals, scoring stencils.

An online computerised scoring system, developed by Helen Woods is also available. For more information on this please visit www.scorz.ie.