diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2255cd9aa..aa4c87066 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 *.db
 *~
 .*
+coverage.xml
 
 html/
 coverage/
diff --git a/rest_framework/runtests/runcoverage.py b/rest_framework/runtests/runcoverage.py
index 2d4a2f781..0f25fbaee 100755
--- a/rest_framework/runtests/runcoverage.py
+++ b/rest_framework/runtests/runcoverage.py
@@ -18,37 +18,17 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     print("Coverage is not installed. Aborting...")
 
-def main():
-    """Run the tests for rest_framework and generate a coverage report."""
+def report(cov, cov_files):
+    cov.report(cov_files)
 
-    cov = coverage()
-    cov.erase()
-    cov.start()
+    if '--html' in sys.argv:
+        cov.html_report(cov_files, directory='coverage')
 
-    from django.conf import settings
-    from django.test.utils import get_runner
+    if '--xml' in sys.argv:
+        cov.xml_report(cov_files, outfile='../../coverage.xml')
 
-    TestRunner = get_runner(settings)
 
-    if hasattr(TestRunner, 'func_name'):
-        # Pre 1.2 test runners were just functions,
-        # and did not support the 'failfast' option.
-        import warnings
-
-        warnings.warn(
-            'Function-based test runners are deprecated. Test runners should be classes with a run_tests() method.',
-            DeprecationWarning
-        )
-        failures = TestRunner(['tests'])
-    else:
-        test_runner = TestRunner()
-        failures = test_runner.run_tests(['tests'])
-    cov.stop()
-
-    # Discover the list of all modules that we should test coverage for
-    import rest_framework
-
-    project_dir = os.path.dirname(rest_framework.__file__)
+def prepare_report(project_dir):
     cov_files = []
 
     for (path, dirs, files) in os.walk(project_dir):
@@ -70,9 +50,47 @@ def main():
 
         cov_files.extend([os.path.join(path, file) for file in files if file.endswith('.py')])
 
-    cov.report(cov_files)
-    if '--html' in sys.argv:
-        cov.html_report(cov_files, directory='coverage')
+    return cov_files
+
+
+def run_tests(app):
+    from django.conf import settings
+    from django.test.utils import get_runner
+
+    TestRunner = get_runner(settings)
+    if hasattr(TestRunner, 'func_name'):
+        # Pre 1.2 test runners were just functions,
+        # and did not support the 'failfast' option.
+        import warnings
+
+        warnings.warn(
+            'Function-based test runners are deprecated. Test runners should be classes with a run_tests() method.',
+            DeprecationWarning
+        )
+        failures = TestRunner([app])
+    else:
+        test_runner = TestRunner()
+        failures = test_runner.run_tests([app])
+    return failures
+
+
+def main():
+    """Run the tests for rest_framework and generate a coverage report."""
+
+    cov = coverage()
+    cov.erase()
+    cov.start()
+
+    failures = run_tests('rest_framework')
+    cov.stop()
+
+    # Discover the list of all modules that we should test coverage for
+    import rest_framework
+
+    project_dir = os.path.dirname(rest_framework.__file__)
+    cov_files = prepare_report(project_dir)
+
+    report(cov, cov_files)
     sys.exit(failures)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':