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Posted By: Putnam01 WIAT-III and Grade Acceleration - 12/11/19 08:58 PM
Looking for help interpreting WIAT III results for dd 8yrs 1 month. She is working at 4th grade level in public school and we are looking for additional acceleration. She took this test last month she was 8yrs 0 mnths

Total Reading� 133 -� 99th percentile
Basic Reading 122 - 93rd�
Reading Comprehension and Fluency 135 -�99th
Written Expression 135 - 99th
Math 136 -� 99th
Math Fluency 135 - 99th

Below I pulled up some sub-tests that had significant variability, I am not sure how to interpret�this but she seems to perform better on more complex tasks without a time demand

Math Problem Solving 149� �>99.9th
Numerical Operations 119 - 90th

Oral Expression 148 - 99.9th�
Pseudoword Decoding 115 84th�
Thanks
Posted By: aeh Re: WIAT-III and Grade Acceleration - 12/12/19 11:40 PM
Nice scores!

Overall, she does very well in every assessed area, with no unexpectedly low skill areas. The tasks you've pointed out as appearing low are both capped a bit by 1) the natural ceiling of the skill area. E.g., PD is phonics skills. Mastery in phonetic decoding caps out at about the late middle school level. The highest items in this skill area (not just on this test, but in general) also typically require some knowledge of classical roots and foreign loan words, which she may or may not have had exposure to, which leads to 2) instructional exposure. She's being instructed at the 4th grade level in math, so it would be surprising if she had many calculation skills beyond arithmetic. The top items on NO require fairly advanced math. And it's hard to solve systems of equations if you haven't been given the symbols for algebra.

I actually don't see clear data to definitively support a difference based on time constraints. Her reading and math fluency are both quite similar to her untimed performance, taking the above-listed considerations into account. I would also assume that her Word Reading score has to have been at least moderately strong for the Basic Reading Composite score to be what it is. Do you have a further breakdown of component scores for Oral Expression? There are three component scores, which can be quite diverse in some students.

BTW, are these age- or grade-normed numbers? Schools may make a reasonable argument for using grade norms in grade-advanced or -retained students. Either way, they can probably be used in advocacy for further acceleration, but if they were based on 4th grade norms, they would be even stronger evidence.
Posted By: Putnam01 Re: WIAT-III and Grade Acceleration - 01/07/20 10:58 PM
Subtest Standard Score, Percentile Rank, Grade Eq., Age Eq.

Reading Comprehension 130 98 >12.9 >19:11
Math Problem Solving 149 >99.9 7.2 12:4
Sentence Composition 131 98 9.6 15:10
Sentence Combining 134 99
Sentence Building 116 86
Word Reading 124 95 6.0 11:0
Essay Composition 133 99 10.7 16:1
Word Count 129 97
Theme Development and Text Organization 133 99
Pseudoword Decoding 115 84 7.2 12:4
Numerical Operations 119 90 4.2 9:4
Oral Expression 148 99.9 9.9 16:7
Expressive Vocabulary 121 92
Oral Word Fluency 160 >99.9
Sentence Repetition 130 98
Oral Reading Fluency 131 98 7.2 13:0
Oral Reading Accuracy 121 92
Oral Reading Rate 127 96
Spelling 117 87 4.7 9:8
Math Fluency – Addition 130 98 7.8 12:8
Math Fluency – Subtraction 126 96 6.1 11:4
Math Fluency - Multiplication 138 99 5.4 10:8
Posted By: Putnam01 Re: WIAT-III and Grade Acceleration - 01/07/20 11:05 PM
I believe she was measured against 3rd grade as the report mentions she is in 3rd grade but I am not entirely sure. The first number you see is the SS Score followed by Percentile, then Grade Rq, Age Eq.

Example

Reading Comprehension SS Score = 130, Percentile= 98th Grade Eq. >12.9, Age Eq. >19:11

I am sorry if the above is confusing.

Thank You
Posted By: aeh Re: WIAT-III and Grade Acceleration - 01/08/20 02:27 AM
The complete list of scores is even more consistent. She has excellent skills across the board (although she presents as slightly better at math than reading/writing), with complex applied and fluency skills uniformly in the top 2%. At this point, I wouldn't put any more thought into whether time demands affect her performance. Her reading comprehension is exactly the same as her reading fluency. Her oral fluency is much stronger than her oral expression. Her math fluency is higher (though not significantly so) than her untimed math calculations. Her length of spontaneous writing is highly comparable to her quality of written response. That about covers the comparisons of timed and untimed skills possible.

It is true that all of her basic skills (untimed) are about 15 points lower, but again, I think these reflect the two points I mentioned previously (ceiling, instruction). And they are all in at least the Above Average range.
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