Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Help - WJ Tests of Cognitive Abilities/GIA

Here's a page of many different kinds of info about the WJ III cog and ach. You may find answers to some of your questions here although mostly the focus is on LD not gifted identification.

http://alpha.fdu.edu/~dumont/psychology/woodcock_index.htm

In particular you may want to look at the link titled "Understanding WJ III RPI scores and their relation to Standard Scores" found almost at the bottom of the page.

In my child's case (2E) the RPI scores are much more helpful than the SS's. RPI gives you a comparison to typical age (or grade) peers and what is considered expected or typical achievement. The WJ III can be run based on either age (preferred) or grade.

RPI is based on the idea that 90% proficiency is typical and sufficient to be considered mastery of a skill. So the RPI results are given as xx/90 with 90 representing 90% proficiency of the given skill.

You don't have to drop much below 1 SD of the mean to get an RPI that is significantly lower. For example, a SS of 89 may earn you an RPI of 74/90 which is defined as limited proficiency and likely to need/warrant intervention. A SS of 86 early you an RPI of 56/90 - clearly very far below age peer performance.

Because the RPI measures "real world" performance, it is often more useful in my opinion for making school placement decisions. However, many special ed departments want to use only the standard scores and apply an arbitrary 1.5 or 2 SD discrepancy rule to decide on special ed eligibility even when the child shows limited proficiency or is failing. This would mean that the child with a SS of 86 would be excluded from services despite an RPI of 56/90.

I realize this doesn't seem to be your issue but thought others might be interested in understanding this score on the WJ III since this test is widely used for achievement testing in schools.

Patricia