Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Achievment Testing

I used to give the woodcock Johnson achievement tests and other tests all the time as a special. Ed teacher...I was trained in my M.Ed. program as well as inservice training from the schools...it isn't hard...if you don't do it often you need to look it over but the more you do it the easier it is. We used to practice on each other.

Many tests don't require a psychologist to administer...but sometimes you want one person doing all of the testing to look at the big picture at the initial testing...later you just don't need a psychologist to do follow up achievement testing...frees the psychologist up for an initial evaluation.

Thanks Sweetie. That's what I was thinking (I love it when I hear what I want to hear, LOL). This woman has a Masters Degree in Special Education also and was a teacher for 29 years. Looks like she basically retired from teaching and started her own business testing, evaluating, etc. homeschoolers.

Like I said I just feel like I am throwing money away getting something like this done by a psych or a neuropsych when it just isn't necessary. I know he is above grade level in these areas... I want to see how much and maybe look into DYS. But I would like the scores/report to be considered valid obviously for DYS and such.

And quite honestly I think DYS is a long shot. So I want to "see" if it's a possibility but if its not I certainly don't want to have spent $600 finding that out!

Having thought about this for a bit,

1) Test administrator criteria may be found online, here is one source of Examiner Qualifications.
Reading this, I would understand the test administrator to be qualified credible, legit, etc.

The questions which remain (and where I would focus my continued research) would be on exploring how well the test results and score report would be a "fit" for planned uses. I most often suggest looking at the "primary source" for information. This is because information can change rapidly and without notice, and it is important to have confidence in what informed our decisions.

2) You may wish to know whether the test you are looking at may be different than the tests accepted by DYS. My thought, WJIII Achievement math/reading only may not be a match with WJIII Cognitive Battery. This is something you may wish to explore.

3) Reading "Offers Individual PIAT or Woodcock-Johnson testing which can be used to meet the 3rd, 5th, or 8th grade testing requirement", I would understand this to be a limitation of the test results and score report to these stated purposes. This is something you may wish to explore.


If the answer to #2 is a match, and the answer to #3 is no limitation, you may wish to work with this tester and enjoy the savings.

Other answers may indicate this would be a useless test for your purposes. (Not a useless test, not a useless test administrator, just not the right "fit" for your purposes.)

Other posters may have other questions to consider to help inform a decision, or other methodology for making a decision.

Well it looks like from the DYS site, DS needs IQ and what we have meets with those requirements (we have WISC IV, VCI 148 by neuropsych with a report).

And, in addition, he needs this: "Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement-III (WJ-III Ach) Standard score 145+ (99.9th percentile) on at least one of the following sections: Broad Reading, Broad Math, Broad Written Language, or Total Achievement"

Woodcock Johnson Cognitive battery is NOT the Woodcock Achievement test... It is an IQ test like WISC IV. Woodcock Achievement test and Woodcock Cognitive Battery are two different things and DS doesn't need the Woodcock Cognitive Battery because he already has WISC IV scores.
So, I thought that's why I'd just do Broad reading and Broad Math. I know he is very high in both and I suspect at least close to 145 on the math.

Thanks for the tester qualifications link!

Irena, you could also use the Explore for DYS. Worked for us. I believe it might not be too late to sign up for this year.

I looked into that but it's not for 2nd grade...

I would make sure she can give you Broad Math and Broad Reading scores. There have been several people here who think that is what they are getting, but they do not.

DS had the Woodcock Johnson Achievement as part of his IEP eval. Does your DS have an IEP? Can't remember. If so, when is he up for a re-evaluation? The school is supposed to do a comprehensive eval every 3 years (or more often if you request one). Comprehensive evals involve looking at cognitive ability and academic achievement.

Keep in mind the Woodcock Johnson Achievement involves fluency/writing on each section and those sections are timed. Even the reading fluency section involved writing. DS was slower in every section labeled "fluency" because he had to write. His broad math was still 155 though. I can't remember your DS's specific issues (ie whether he has a writing or speed issue) so not sure if this helps. I am doubtful that my DD would do well on an achievement test like the WJ because she is so slow.
edited to add, I looked at the other posts in this thread again and it looks like he had it last year? Then you should know about the writing/timing aspect and whether it's an issue.