1. Educational Assessment of Children
Melissa Stern
PSY 4930
October 3, 2006

2. Academic Achievement
Skills children learn through direct intervention or instruction
Educational assessment or achievement is a method of testing these skills
Usually includes areas such as:
Reading
Spelling
Writing
Math
Vocabulary

3. Why is it important to measure achievement??
We conceptualize specific learning disabilities as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using written or spoken language which can manifest in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or complete mathematical calculations. Achievement tests capture these manifestations
Specific learning disabilities are defined as:
a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability PL

4. What is a “severe” discrepancy?
A constant 2-year discrepancy between grade level and achievement
A graduated formulation of underachievement
1 year for 1st and 2nd grade
1.5 years for 3rd and 4th grade
2 years for 5th-8th grade
3 years for 9th-12th grade

5. Severe Discrepancy
A discrepancy of at least 1 SD between standard scores for IQ and achievement
This is one of the most common methods of testing for a learning disability
-bias in this method of discrepancy testing

6. Types of Achievement Tests
Screening tests
Brief
One subtest for each subject area
Useful to decide whether comprehensive tests are necessary
Examples:
Wide Range Achievement Test-3
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Screener

7. Types of Achievement Tests
Comprehensive tests
Assess three or more subjects taught in school
At least 2 subtests from each area
Assess lower and higher cognitive skills in each area

8. Examples of Achievement Areas
Reading
Math
Writing
Passage
Comprehension
Problem Solving
Constructing Text
Reading Fluency
Estimation
Syntax
Site Recognition
Measures, Time, $
Capitalization, punctuation
Letter ID
Numeration
Letter Formation

9. Single-subject vs. Multiple-subject Tests
Single-subject tests include several subtests to measure different skills within one domain
Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised
Multiple-subject tests provide info on at least 3 basic school subjects
Psychologists generally use these
Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test
Better to begin with multiple subjects tests and move to single-subject

10. Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT)
For children 5-19 years of age
Specifically created to be used in conjunction with the WISC
30-60 minutes to administer
8 subtests:
Basic reading
Reading comprehension
Math reasoning
Numerical Operations
Listening Comprehension
Oral Expression
Spelling
Written Expression

11. WIAT: Pros and Cons
Pros—norms based on same sample on which WISC was normed
Cons--Some subjective scoring on four of the subtests

12. Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement
For ages 2-90 years
22 tests
12 in standard battery
Word attack is in the extended battery and is commonly given (phonetic analysis)
Standardized for use with WJ III-COG
Long Administration time (several hours depending on how much of the extended battery is included)

13. A final note on intellectual and educational assessment
IQ and achievement scores are necessary for the diagnosis of a learning disability
Administering these tests, along with an interview can be expensive and time consuming
4-5 hours
$1,000+