Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment What factors influence WJ-III NU ach scores?

I was wondering what sort of factors influence achievement test scores.Is it just dependent on the material the child is exposed to ? Is there anything else that would contribute to high scores on this test?

Not only what they have been exposed to (large part of it) but also some ability to make connections to what they already know (some creative/intuitive educated guessing).

Thanks - The reason I was asking is DS2 who is 6.5 yo was tested recently WISC and WJ-III achievement. His WISC scores were average but his schievement scores were much higher. Broad Math and Math Reasoning were both 99+%. Broad Reading and Reading comprehension were 98 and 95% respectively.He works with a math tutor 2 hours each week so that would explain his math scores. Reading is just what he does at our public school. Yes he loves to read but not hours each day maybe a small chapter book a week. He finished the Magic Tree house books a few months ago but his reading interest has greatly reduced since then. I was wondering why his scores were so high especially in reading compared to his IQ scores. It is interesting to see how much even 2 hours of enrichment per week make.

Based on what I've seen of the WJ-III Achievement tests, around K-2 grade I'd expect that tutoring would make a significant difference, but so would ability to grasp concepts easily as well as an ability to work quickly. There are two or three different subtests that add into the Broad Scores under each category of math, reading and writing. Sooo... I wouldn't be so quick to assume it's *all* exposure.

Did you have a chance to see his subtest scores on the WISC, or just the averaged scores? An FSIQ of 100, for instance, could mean a child is right around average all across the board in all the different types of abilities tested, or it could alternatively mean that he's got some real strengths in some areas (could be up in line with his achievement scores or higher), but they are balanced out by weaker scores in other areas. It's possible he may be really strong in the abilities that go into math reasoning etc but not so strong in verbal, for instance.

Re the reading (and really any of the other subtests), I found it really helpful to look at the specifics of what the subtest asked to understand why my kids' scores fell where they did - it usually made sense.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Hi Polarbear,
His scores were as follows :
FISQ 117
VCI 114 PRI 119 WMI 116 PSI 97
Nothing really stands out like it did for my older DS who had a huge spread between his numbers.They seem nicely grouped together except for the PSI which is slightly lower (CD was 8, SS 11).

WJ-III percentile scores were 99+ for all Math subtests.
For Reading - Letter word id was 99+%
Passage comprehension 95%
Reading fluency 95%
Reading Vocabulary 88%

He was not given the written section for some reason.
The psychologist didnt give any real helpful information except that we continue doing what we are doing and work with a timer to help him with his attention and processing speed.
I have asked for grade equivalent scores - I just have his Standard scores and Percentile so I think his scores are normed for his age.Maybe I am overthinking it -the 99+/95 for a 6 yo is probably not as great as it seems on paper.Thanks for letting me pick your brain again.