Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment How should the WJ-III be used for identification

I'm in need of advice and resources regarding the WJIII. Important to note: our district has very low requirements for acceptance into GT. Since I had my daughter privately tested for ADHD I decided to submit those scores to avoid the school administered cogat and ITBS and put her through extra testing. Our school only requires 85% & above in ability and achievement to enter GT.

My daughter's IQ was 94% and GAI was 97.5% (unmedicated, we found after her testing that she has severe ADHD and is now doing better with meds.) Her WJ-III broad math was 89% and broad reading 87% I knew her achievement were not quite accurate, she is a stellar reader. Top reader in class, max'ed out all the reading assessments for several years now. However, since my district only needed a 85, I gave them these scores.

Today I finally called to get info since I haven't gotten a letter to start AG. Unbelievably, they tell me they are not going to put her in GT because her "passage comprehension" subtest on the WJ was only 84.... And they require 85 for reading achievement.

They are telling me that they use only one subtest called "Passage Comprehension" to determine gifted identification for Reading. They are denying her gifted reading services due to this one subtest.

My question is: what piece of the WJ-IIII should be used to determine reading achievement. I feel as if using one subtest is too narrow a view. If anyone has links to resources, research ,etc. I would love them! My district is very uneducated when it comes to Gifted Ed. I'd love to share. Thanks!

Just to clear up my confusion, you asked for them to use outside testing (IQ and WJ) rather than the tests they normally give students (ITBS and CogAT)? Could you ask them to give her the ITBS and if that score is high enough, use it instead of the WJ?

I am not sure what is on the ITBS but I wonder if they are picking only the comprehension section of the WJ because the ITBS is a comprehension test?

If they resist, you should point out that she was unmedicated when she took the test so it's not a fair gauge of her abilities. They should be willing to re-test her with a different test medicated (and if they are not they are crazy and probably in violation of disability law).

I think the other portions of the WJ for reading are identifying single words, and also reading fluency which is timed and involves circling answers. If those things are not on the ITBS, it may be why they don't want to consider them. I know the computerized achevement test that my DD does in school only involves comprehension and vocabulary.

Thanks, I may have named that wrong. Normally, they give coGat and the IOWA test of basic skills. I already had scores in hand due to her ADHD testing. Plus, the district and our school has had several mishaps with testing and scores that caused plenty of issues for kids. That's why I just gave them the scores I already had.

I really don't feel like she should have to take another test. It's not fair to her and she already has what they need in my view. All they do is test anymore in school and I don't think she should have to do another.

It's sort of the principle of the thing in having to take another test. I can't find any resources on line that show only one subtest should be looked at on this test.

Surely there is a policy in writing--request it...

I think that all these strict cut-offs are dumb, but districts use them and if they have a policy that the kid has to score 85 percentile on reading comprehension, there probably isn't much you can do other than re-test or have them look at a reading comprehension test that is already done. What other assessments do they normally do that she has maxed out? Do they test above grade level? Because if it only tests on grade level, lots of kids (nationally, not necessarily in your class) would max out on it, and it's not necessarily going to be above the 85th percentile.

On one of the computerized reading tests my DD scored in the low 90's, she is in third grade, and the test put her at a 7th grade reading level. 7th grade reading level seems like it should be impressive for a 3rd grader, but it's really not that high percentile-wise. The district g/t coordinator told me she is "weak" in reading and they would have to watch her reading. Luckily she did better on the next test.

might be... who knows in this district...
even if these is a written policy, I just found out that the district used the broad score for a parent last year after some advocating. So precedent has been made.
I just want to know what the test publisher recommends and what others have experienced with this test.

If you really want her in, I would argue broad scores too. But, I would look at the scores a bit and might reconsider. I do think passage comprehension is a score you need to get into a gifted program. The other scores are letter-word identification, reading fluency, reading vocabulary, etc. All of these areas are important but are not what most would consider essential to show giftedness. It is the same as math calculation - sure the numbers may be high, but true giftedness is going to show in math reasoning and applied problems. Think about it as a kid who can identify more words vs. a kid who can understand complex passages or a kid who knows times tables vs. a kid who can solve complex word problems. Gifted programs should be geared toward the kids who understand more complex passages or solve complex word problems.

Passage comprehension on the WJ-III is really weird. The kid reads a passage with words missing and has to supply the words. You might want to ask that the WIAT be administered instead. Or even any test that uses a more normal procedure for discerning reading comprehension.

(I have a kid who started reading at age 2. He took the WJ-III at age 7 and scored at the 99th percentile for passage comprehension. Then he took it again at age 8.5 and the raw score was *below* what it was the previous time, meaning that there were fewer items correct. I *know* his comprehension had improved tremendously during that time, so obviously the test was wonky.)

Thanks. Additional info - my daughter started reading around age 3 1/2 self taught. She consistently is max'ed out on the reading assessments in the classroom and her teacher shared with me that she recently scored highest in the grade on beginning of the year reading assessment. We don't know what her true level is since the teacher can only test her to the 5th grade level and she's max'ed that out as early as the beginning of 2nd grade. We are in the top performing school in the district and over half the kids qualify for AG, so she has some competition. She is an excellent reader and this score is not a valid measure of her ability. It's more a product of her attention problems.
My district has had her scores since September when I submitted them. I had asked back then to contact me asap if the scores I submitted were an issue for gifted. I heard nothing. I finally called today since letters will be going out soon to start services and just wanted to make sure all is well. They tell me this.... I'm frustrated....

So frustrating when demonstrated ability has less impact that one subset of one test! Our school relies heavily on the matrix reasoning subset for entrance into programs and for a time would not accept outside testing at all.

If they can't be reasoned with, I have to agree with retest. Either with the school or maybe you can get the WIAT done outside (maybe it is even possible to just have the reading section???) while medicated.

Good luck.