Woodcock Johnson Tests

Woodcock Johnson Tests

By: Kamal Smith & Petra Rhynie

The world’s hardest test

The world’s easiest test

How about this one?

Types of woodcock Johnson tests

The Woodcock Johnson III Normative Update Test of

Achievement : (Form A and B) WJIIIACH

The Woodcock Johnson III Normative Update Tests of Cognitive

Abilities

The Woodcock Johnson III Diagnostic Supplement

Types of woodcock Johnson tests

  Woodcock-Johnson® III Normative

Update (NU) Complete Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery

Test-Revised: (WJR)

Overview Dr. Richard Woodcock is the founder of the

Woodcock Johnson batteries of test. The first test was in 1977 which was called the Visual-Auditory Learning which measures new learning through associative memory. Since 1977 Dr. Woodcock and others have developed a wide range of tests that measures academic skills, cognitive abilities and detects learning disabilities. These tests are administered by educators and psychologists.

Cynthia tells us more…

The Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement III: (Standard & Extended Battery) WJIIIACH

Copyrighted

Age Range Purpose Approximate

Testing time

Response

2001 2 – 90(Grade k to graduate school)

Measures overall achievement in reading, mathematics, written language, and general knowledge in science, social studies and humanities

20 minutes-over 1 hour

Verbal & written

WjIIIach cont’d

This test is divided into two parts:

Standard battery Extended battery

Standard Battery(60-70 minutes)

consists of twelve subtests:1. Letter-Word Identification2. Reading Fluency3. Story Recall.4. Understanding Directions5. Calculation6. Math fluency

Standard cont’d….7. Spelling8. Writing Fluency9. Passage Comprehension10.Applied Problems11.Writing Samples.12.Story Recall-Delayed

Extended Battery (5-10 mins per test)

consists of ten subtests:1. Word attack2. Picture Vocabulary3. Oral comprehension4. Editing5. Reading Vocabulary

Extended battery cont’d….6. Quantitative Concepts7. Academic Knowledge8. Spelling of Sounds9. Sound Awareness10.Punctuation and Capitalization

Other purposes: diagnosis determination of intra-ability and

ability/achievement discrepancies program placement individual program planning guidance growth assessment program evaluation research

WJIII cont’d… The battery is norm-referenced and

individually administered. A student’s performance on the achievement subtests may be a reflection, in part, of the curriculum that has been taught.

ScoringThe computer scoring program will calculateand report scores and provide a short writtensummary off performance.

As well, it will plot and print age / grade andstandard score (including t score and zscore) / percentile rank profiles.

Other components Student is provided with a Subject Response

Booklet to use when written answers are required. Examiner records student scores in a Test Record,

which has built-in scoring tables for each test, enabling estimated age/grade equivalent scores to be found immediately.

An Audio Recording is provided to be used with some of the tests.

Form c The new WJ III Brief Battery provides a brief and

reliable measure valid for many purposes. It introduces new items, several new clusters, test records, and interpretive procedures that provide solutions for brief and focused achievement assessment. The new test-by-test observation checklist facilitates the documentation of qualitative test session observations important for interpreting testing behaviors and strategies.

Administration of form c Test administration of the new Brief Battery may be

conducted by a wide variety of personnel, which increases the practicality of implementing an individually-administered norm-referenced screening system. The Brief Battery Test Book also contains step-by-step instructions for administering and scoring each test. The Examiner’s

Manual provides a sequence of steps for learning how to administer and score the tests.

Writing samples Examples: #11 (picture of drum and drum sticks) Write

agood sentence that tells something about

this toy.

#20 The second sentence is missing from this

paragraph. Write a good sentence that will fit.

Reading fluency Test 2: Reading Fluency – 3 minutes to readsimple to moderate level sentences and

decide ifeach is true or false (98 questions). Examples:#7 The letter b is a number.#40 A box may be made of wood.#71 A broken pen may leak ink.#97 Horses often sleep in garages.

Math fluency Test 6: Math Fluency – 3 minutes to

solve simple addition, subtraction and multiplication Focus on speed and accuracy.

Examples: 1 4 7 9+7 x 3 -0 x7

Spelling fluency Test 7: Spelling – measures the ability to writeorally presented words correctly. Begins withdrawing lines (#1--4)and tracing letters (#5--6)then proceeds to writing uppercase andlowercase letters (#7--13), and finally requiresspelling words of increasing difficulty (#14--59).

Examples: #14 hat #24 some#34 against #44 squirrel#54 incisor #59 bouillon

Validity and norming National standardization on over 8,000

individuals ranging in age form 2 to over 90 years old.

Included college and university undergraduate and graduate students.

Demographic and community characteristics closely match the general U.S. population.

NO CANADIAN NORMS !

Wjiiiach cont’d

Administering the test

Another example

See Wj normative update(Microsoft word)

Woodcock-Johnson® III Normative Update (NU) Tests of Cognitive Abilities

Copyrighted

Age Range Purpose Approximate Testing

Time

Response

1977, 2001 2-90 years old Measures

general intellectual ability and specific cognitive abilities

Varies, about 5 minutes per test; Cognitive

Standard 7 tests (35-45 minutes);

Achievement Standard 11 tests (55-65

minutes).

Verbal,written

Overview

The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities is a set of intelligence tests first developed in 1977 by Woodcock and Johnson. It was revised in 1989 and again in 2001; this last version is commonly referred to as WJ-III.

Overview The test is based on the Cattell-Horn-Carroll

(CHC) theory of cognitive abilities, which combines Cattell and Horn's theory and Carroll's three-stratum theory. The CHC theory provides the most comprehensive framework available for understanding the structure of human cognitive abilities.

Overview cont’d…… The Standard Battery consists of tests 1

through 10, and the Extended Battery includes tests 11 through 20. Depending on the purpose and extent of the assessment, examiners can use the Standard Battery alone or in conjunction with the Extended Battery.

Content of test

There are 10 tests in the Standard Battery, and an additional 10 in the Extended Battery, allowing for a considerably detailed analysis of cognitive abilities.

Content of test cont’d

This test examines areas in: Comprehension-Knowledge, Long-Term Retrieval, Visual-Spatial Thinking, Auditory Processing, Fluid Reasoning, Processing Speed, Short-Term Memory and Quantitative Knowledge and Reading-Writing Ability. A General Intellectual Ability (GIA) or Brief Intellectual Ability (BIA) may be obtained

New features of the WJ III NU Tests of Cognitive Abilities include:

8 new tests that measure information-processing abilities, including tests of working memory, planning, naming speed, and attention

5 new cognitive clusters; 2 additional clusters available when cognitive and achievement batteries are used together

Modified organization and interception plan that increases depth and breadth of coverage

Expanded cognitive factor structure so that two to three tests clearly measure different narrow aspects of a broader ability

Clusters and tests grouped into three broad cognitive areas: Verbal Ability, Thinking Ability, and Cognitive Efficiency

Expanded procedures for evaluating ability/achievement discrepancies

Diagnostic Supplement to the NU Tests of Cognitive Abilities

New & Improved measures The WJ III NU Tests of Cognitive Abilities includes new

measures of executive functioning and working memory that provide an overall index of attention to cognitive tasks. Three cognitive tests Planning, Pair Cancellation, and Concept Formation measure aspects of executive functioning including mental control and forethought, interference control, and cognitive flexibility. Planning and Pair Cancellation are both new tests.

Improved measures cont’d Attention problems and working memory also

affect cognitive functioning and performance. The WJ III NU measures both attention and working memory with several new tests and clusters. The new Broad Attention cluster contains four tests Numbers Reversed, Auditory Working Memory, Auditory Attention, and Pair Cancellation.

Improved measures cont’d These tests measure attentional capacity,

ability to divide information in short-term memory into distinct sequences, attending to and discriminating speech sounds while dealing with auditory distortion, and how well a person can stay on task. Auditory Working Memory, Auditory Attention, and Pair Cancellation are all new tests.

Improved measures cont’d The new Working Memory cluster

measures the ability to hold information in awareness while performing a mental operation on it and includes the Numbers Reversed and Auditory Working Memory tests.

Example See Figure 1 (Microsoft word)

Benefits Designed to facilitate a broad range of

tailored and comprehensive assessments Extended grade norms from K.0 to

university graduate students Broader cognitive factor scores that

measure narrow aspects of each broad ability

Scoring software that eliminates hand-scoring and reduces error

Benefits cont’d… Only cognitive test to offer calculated "g" score as

General Intellectual Ability (GIA), rather than arithmetic mean score

Brief Intellectual Ability (BIA) score obtained in 10-15 minutes

WJ III NU Audio is available separately on CD Ideal for measuring basic psychological

processes in problem-solving models like Response to Intervention (RTI)

The Woodcock Johnson III Diagnostic Supplement

See Diagnostic supplement (Microsoft word)

Benefits A General Intellectual Ability-Bilingual Scale (GIA–Bil) A Broad Cognitive Ability–Low Verbal (BCA–LV) cluster A General Intellectual Ability, Early Development Scale

(GIA–Edev) Memory for Names, a popular subtest from

the Woodcock-Johnson—Revised, with new and more colorful space creatures that are ideal for younger children

Benefits Additional clusters for several narrow CHC

abilities when combined with tests from the WJ III Tests of Cognitive Abilities

Expanded measures of certain broad and narrow CHC abilities

Ideal for measuring basic psychological processes in problem-solving models like Response to Intervention (RTI)

Woodcock-Johnson® III Normative Update (NU) Complete

Purpose: A co-normed set of tests for measuring general intellectual ability, specific cognitive abilities, oral language, and academic achievement

Restriction Level: High Ages:2 to 90+ years Grades:K to graduate school

Administration Times: Approximately 5 minutes per test for each battery: Achievement, Cognitive, and Diagnostic Supplement.

Scoring:PR, SS, AE, GE, NCE, stanine, T score, z score, W score, RPI, CALP levels, instructional zones, and developmental zones

Benefits Supports Response to Intervention (RTI) model implementation with

time-tested, reliable assessments for tiers II and III Conducts comprehensive student assessment with co-normed

achievement and cognitive batteries for a more complete look at student functioning and performance

Creates automated reports for both batteries through Report Writer or WIIIP that can be reviewed and edited by the test administrator

Adds instructional interventions through the addition of WIIIP (see page 10) to help ensure assessment data is effective for the classroom.

Identifies significant variations in achievement across academic content domains

Benefits cont’d Determines significant variations in ability across

different basic psychological processes Measures disparities between achievement and

predicted achievement based on cognitive ability levels Provides for discrepancy interpretation from

administration of a single achievement battery Offers parallel Spanish assessment through the Batería

III Woodcock-Muñoz® Normative Update Ideal for measuring basic psychological processes in

problem-solving models like Response to Intervention (RTI)

Ideal for identifying specific skill deficits that will be the focus of intervention curriculum in problem-solving models like Response to Intervention (RTI)

Advantages of the woodcock johnson tests

They give better information than the WIAT about basic skills.

They are very good at testing the core basic low end reading skills (rudimentary skills).

They can determine from the results exactly where a student’s learning is breaking down (where lies the disability).

WJ tests begin with easy tasks and progress to the more complex. This builds a student’s confidence and may help the student reach his/her full potential on the test.

Advantages cont’d The WJ III is available in two forms,

Form A and Form B. Form B is the Canadian version and includes appropriate updates such as metric math and Canadian coins

Another benefit of using the WJ is that computer scoring is available.

Advantages cont’d The Woodcock Johnson isn't timed, so the

student doesn't feel rushed. There is also no chance of answer sheet errors, as the student gives their response to the administrator of the test-- no tiny circles to fill in and no endless columns of circles to invite placement error. The test also allows the student to rise to his/her level of ability, and show achievement beyond the student's current grade level. It will score into college level difficulty.

Advantages cont’d The Woodcock Johnson tests are very

precise instruments for measuring several abilities and aptitudes in children and adults. When used properly, it gives the teachers a clear picture of the student and allows for solid decisions to be made about the program and IEP for that child.

Disadvantages The language used by this test can

sometimes be stilted and awkward. It isn't as conversational in tone as the Peabody.  It also has very narrowly defined grade comparisons (just a few questions separate one grade level from another) putting pressure on each question for advancement.

Disadvantages cont’d While many tests are normed on Canadian

children (ex. Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), and the WIAT), the WJ tests are not.

There is concern with the applied skills portion of the WJ tests (such as writing). The test requires the student to write only a sentence, rather than a paragraph. This might not be sufficient to give a good indication of a student’s writing skills

Samples Scoring checklist Result card

References Cohen, Libby, G, Spenciner, Loraine, J.

(2003). Assessment of Children And Youth With Special Needs. Boston: Pearson.

M, T. R. (1997). Measurement And Evaluation In Psychology And Education. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Mindes Gayle. (1996). Assessing Young Children. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

(Riverside Pulishing.com, 2007)