Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment KTEA & WIAT scores - what to take from this?

As part of DD's 3-year IEP re-evaluation, I asked the new school psych to do academic testing because the school has really done nothing to determine where DD's working at. DD is a PG 5th grader with HFA, and she's in a hicap classroom that isn't super exclusive -- our hicap program is the top 5-7% and is very project-based.

So I get these scores back from the school psych and they're kind of all over the place. He did both the KTEA (one paper says it's KTEA-II and one says KTEA-3) and some of the WIAT-III.

My thought on this is that it's telling me that her ability is really high, but she's not getting enough of a workout in the classroom. But maybe I'm wrong?

KTEA-II:

Subtest Score %ile
Letter & Word Recognition 115 84
Reading Comprehension 154 >99.9
Written Expression ** 104 61
Math Concepts & Applications 133 99
Math Computation 149 99.9

Academic Fluency 134 99
Reading Fluency 139 99.5
Silent Reading Fluency 140 99.6
Word Recognition Fluency 123 94
Decoding Fluency 137 99
Writing Fluency 124 95
Math Fluency 117 87


WIAT III (given one week later)

Subtest Std Score %ile
Word Reading 125 95
Math Fluency 122 93
Math Fluency-Addition 121 92
Math Fluency-Subtraction 125 95
Math Fluency-Multiplication 112 79


** For the low Written Expression part the tester seemed to say the written response had all the parts required but it contained "a deviation form the logical flow where she added content that was derived from the story but not actually in the story that disrupted the logical flow of the narrative" -- this sounds like something she got dinged on? I guess? (FWIW she complained earlier this year that her friends in other classes were writing "7 paragraph essays" but her class never seems to do any sort of formal lessons of that nature.)

These are tidy little scores, and pretty consistent with a PG elementary student. The only one that isn't basically on target is the written expression score, which, it sounds like, she isn't getting quite as much instruction on, but which also is the most likely area to be vulnerable to her ASD profile.

I don't think it's really possible to use these data to say that classroom instruction is holding her back (and thus artificially lowering her achievement scores), with the possible exception of the written expression subtest--but even then, this result might actually reflect spectrum traits more. I think I would articulate this more as evidence that, whatever the rest of the class is doing, she needs more explicit instruction in extended writing, especially organization, likely as a consequence of her identified special need.

Thanks, aeh! Yes, I think the written would likely improve immensely with more explicit instruction. I don't think she's gotten much there since 2nd grade, outside of a CTY class we took last summer (which was great, but insanely overpriced). Her 3rd grade teacher was a real free spirit, and now she's in a multi-grade split class and they're all about projects & problem solving and so much LESS about "how to write a thing".

But I do find her math scores perplexing. She's taking Pre Algebra through AoPS right now and doing fine (would probably benefit from more explicitness here, too, but simultaneously finds the class discussion "too slow" and sometimes you just can't win). But again, all atual instruction was below-grade until this class, where the teacher teaches "whatever the class needs right now".

Our elementary goes through 6th and she's got another entire year in this elementary hicap program before she'll reach a school where she could potentially move into higher level classes.

Aufilia, her math scores for concepts and computation under the first group of subtests look great. The lower scores are on fluency subtests, which typically are timed. My guess is that the scores are influenced by her speed of either computation or knowledge of rote facts rather than reflecting anything that relates to lack of appropriate level instruction in concepts.

If you are looking for benchmarks to guide you in determining if you need to ask for something more in terms of classroom academics, you could ask for year-end tests in the subjects you're looking for guidance on, so that she can demonstrate level of mastery of the actual curriculum. There is also an Algebra easiness test that's widely used by schools across the US - I can't remember re name of it but maybe someone else here will. If you have concerns about written expression the TOWL might be helpful, and her school should have access to it.

Best Wishes,

polarbear

My thoughts this year have been along the times of, "Ok, so we're on year 2 in this 3-grade class... and her 2 good friends are a grade older.. and DO WE REALLY NEED to do this class for 3 YEARS???" I love her teacher who is sooo good with the ASD stuff, and we have a special pull-out ASD program in our home elementary that's been great... but we have another 1.5 years in this class after this.

The only way out would be to grade-skip into 6th and go into middle school next year but I'm not sure if these scores justify such a thing. She's also horribly disorganized, but there is a difference between visible failure to organize physical objects (a disaster) and organizing academic products (usually fine). And it's not like she has any homework right now to practice organizing anyway.