BCS70 – Age 10 – Edinburgh Reading Test (Shortened Version)

The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) assessed their cohort members (CMs) during the study’s age 10 sweep using the Edinburgh Reading Test (Shortened Version).

Details on this measure and the data collected from the CMs are outlined in the table below.

Year of data collection:	1980
Domain:	Verbal: word recognition
Measures:	A test of word recognition, which examined vocabulary, syntax, sequencing, comprehension and retention. Items were carefully selected to cover a wide age range of ability from seven to thirteen years in a form suitable to straddle the ten-year cohort. Particular attention was paid to the lower limit to allow a score to be allocated for very poor readers.
CHC:	Gc (Crystallised ability) and also elements of Grw (Reading/Writing)
CLOSER Source:	Explore this sweep in CLOSER Discovery: BCS70 Age 10 Survey (1980) (opens in a new tab)
Administrative method:	In schools; part instructed and child self-completion; pen and paper
Procedure:	There were 67 questions broken down into a number of sections. In the first four the interviewer went through an example at the beginning to show the child what to do.
	Section 1: the child selected one from four words to describe a picture (5 items)
	Section 2: the child crossed out a word that did not belong in the sequence (5 items)
	Section 3: the child matched 5 answers to 5 questions (4 items)
	Section 4: the child completed a picture quiz (5 items)
	In the remaining sections the child read the question and completed the answers without assistance (48 items).
	Duration: 30 minutes
	(See “Technical Resources” below for more information)
Link to questionnaire:	https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BCS-1980-Edinburgh-Reading-Test.pdf (opens in new tab)
Scoring:	A score of one was given for each correct answer, with possible scores ranging 0 – 67.
Item-level variable(s):	i3003 – 13069
Total score/derived variable(s):	BD3RREAD
	BD3READ*
	BD3RDAGE*
	*variables may have been updated, please check carefully
Age of participants (months):	Mean = 121.88, SD = 2.67, Range = 117 – 139
Descriptives:	Raw score
	N = 11,641
	Range = 0 – 65
	Mean = 40.23
	SD = 12.68
	(click image to enlarge)
Other sweep and/or cohort:	BCS70 – Age 16 – Edinburgh Reading Test (Shortened Version) (age 10 test adapted for 16-year-olds)
Source:	Shortened version developed from Edinburgh Reading Test by Godfrey Thompson Unit and BCS70 survey team especially for the BCS70 at age 10. GTU (1978) Edinburgh Reading Test. Sevenoaks: Hodder and Stoughton.
Technical resources:	Parsons, S. (2014). Childhood cognition in the 1970 British Cohort Study, CLS Working Paper. London: Centre for Longitudinal Studies. (Link opens in a new tab)
Example articles:	Maughan, B., Taylor, C., Taylor, A., Butler, N., & Bynner, J. (2001). Pregnancy smoking and childhood conduct problems: a causal association? The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 42(8), 1021-1028.
	Schoon, I., Bynner, J., Joshi, H., Parsons, S., Wiggins, R. D., & Sacker, A. (2002). The influence of context, timing, and duration of risk experiences for the passage from childhood to midadulthood. Child Development, 73(5), 1486-1504.
	Pensiero, N. (2011). Parent-child cultivation and children’s cognitive and attitudinal outcomes from a longitudinal perspective. Child Indicators Research, 4(3), 413-437.
	McKnight, A. (2015). Downward mobility, opportunity hoarding and the ‘glass floor’. London: Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.