Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WJ-IV Broad Math Calculation & Related Qs

I have been lurking on these forums for years, and I have learned so much here that has helped me navigate school and other activities for my kids. Thank you to all who have taken the time to write here over the years!

My DS 9.5 recently took the WJ-IV achievement tests, with these scores:
[edited out for privacy]

Gray Silent Reading Test (GSRT): [edited out]
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4 (PPVT-4): [edited out]

He also took the WISC V, with these scores:
[edited out for privacy]

The tester recommended finding more opportunities for him to interact with similar-ability kids in the hopes that being more deeply engaged by peers will help his social skills. The local opportunities that I have found all target the top 5%, often with loose admission procedures, and it just seems too broad to meet the need we�re trying to fill since he already goes to a high-achieving school with many top 5%, high-achieving kids.

So, I�m trying to figure out the likelihood that his achievement scores might qualify him for DYS. I�m hoping you can help. The tester did not provide Broad Math, Broad Reading, etc. scores for the WJ.

Would DS�s Broad Math Score on the WJ be 145+? � It looks like he took the subtests needed to calculate Broad Math, but I can�t figure out what the score would be.

If the Broad Math score is 145+, I�m also wondering if it makes sense to request that the tester administer the other subtests necessary to calculate Broad Reading, to see if Broad Reading comes out at 145. Given the scores we already have, does it seem reasonable to think that Broad Reading might also come out DYS level? Or probably not?

If his profile doesn�t appear likely to achieve 145 on Broad Math and Broad Reading, then I wouldn�t want to spend the resources on getting these scores added to the report.

But if there�s a decent chance that his scores would end up qualifying him for DYS, I�d like to pursue it because I�m having trouble finding any other groups or activities for him that target the top � percent, or even the top 1%, and he could definitely benefit from finding some new peers in that range.

Of course, if you have ideas of opportunities I may have missed, I�d be happy to hear about them, too.

Thank you!

Welcome!

There is no easy way to determine the composite scores on the WJ without the scoring software, as they are not simple averages (some subtests are weighted more heavily in the composites). He did take all of the subtests for Broad Math, but not for any of the other qualifying composite scores. You would need one more subtest for Broad Reading, and two more for Broad Written Language. If you had all three of those subtests, you would then also have sufficient data for the Broad Achievement score.

I would suspect that the Broad Math might be in the ball park of 145, but no guarantees. And the other two honestly are hard to estimate. If the applied skills are much higher than the basic skills and fluency (as is the case for mathematics), then it is possible that the composites may approach qualifying. And if all of them at least approach qualifying, then it is more likely than it would be otherwise that the Broad Achievement score is in the range.

His WISC-V scores are good, and unlikely to be significantly higher on the GAI. (Though that would depend on the consistency of his subtest scores in WMI, and PSI.)