Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Is WISC III accurate?

A couple years ago, we had my DD take the WPPSI for private school application process. At that time, her scores were as follows (she was 4yrs and 3 months at that time):
Performance IQ: 125
Verbal IQ 114
Full scale: 124
Gen lang 131
Processing 119

She's now in first grade in public school and did not make the GT cutoff based on their group test. I took her to a psychologist to see if I could appeal the results of the group school testing. Apparently, he doesn't have the WISC IV but only the WISC III. These were her scores:

Verbal intelligence: 145
Performance intelligence: 151
Full IQ: 152
Verbal comprehension: 143
perceptual organization: 150
Freedom from distracability: 142
processing speed 131


That seems to me to be a really huge difference. And I am wondering if these scores would even be accepted since there is a newer version of the test out. So if I take her again to get retested, how long do I need to wait from these most recent test results? Thanks!

Take this with a grain of salt since I am hardly an expert, but I would imagine that the WPPSI results might be a little low and the WISC III results might be a little high. Testing at 4 can be pretty unreliable, but on the other hand, a recent thread on this board on the Flynn effect was pointing out how scores for the WISC IV -- now at the end of its life -- may already be somewhat inflated.

It can be difficult to get schools to consider outside testing even with the current testing. The WISC-III was published in 1991 and WISC-IV in 2003. The 5th addition is due out soon. It is quite outdated. A school psychologist that is doing testing would know the current versions. Did the psychologist tell you they were using WISC-III before testing her?

I think you will have trouble getting it accepted. The testing retake time I believe is at least 12 months. You could also do a different IQ test.

Thanks for the advice. I was a little surprised to see the WISC III scores so high. The psychologist did mention to me they were using the WISC III, but I didn't realize the difference and that the IV was on its way out, etc. In retrospect, I wouldn't have had her take the III. I will probably wait a year and have her retake it, or maybe have her retake another test over the summer. Is there another one that would be recommended? Our district won't tell us the tests that they use for GT placement; in fact, they are very opaque about the entire process (frankly, about education as a whole) which makes it a little more challenging to figure out how to advocate for your kid without becoming annoying. Thank you again for your help.

I might consider the WISC-V in a year or so when it is out or the SB-V if you need scores sooner. You wouldn't have to wait a whole year if you went with a different test.

OTOH both scores indicate some type of giftedness so it wouldn't hurt to try and figure out how to write a letter and appeal the group testing using the scores especially if you think she needs to be in the program. Have you tried to look for your districts legal policy? I was surprised at how much was there but I kind of had to hunt around on our district website to find it. There's probably at least a director of advanced services to call and talk to about the requirements/appeals.