A Critique of the Wide Range Achievement Test-4 (WRAT-4) Since the 19th century, standardized tests have been implemented to gauge and measure student learning and help make scholastic institutions accountable for teaching. The tests have also played a crucial role in the field of psychology. Not to be confused with aptitude testing, which measures an individual’s learning ability, achievement tests aim to find out on how much the individual knows about a specific subject. In accomplishing this, the tests assists in evaluating eligibility for special education services, examining progress in achievement over a period of time, and to screen groups of individuals to identify those who need to be evaluated more thoroughly for academic problems. The Wide Range Achievement Test-4 (WRAT-4) is such a test, and has proven to be easy to administer and provide a great deal of information.
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Jastak believed that academic performance should also be considered during a cognitive assessment battery. He believed that assessing both academic codes and cognitive processes provided a more complete view of individual abilities. It has undergone several revisions, with the WRAT–Revised (WRAT-R) in 1978, the WRAT–Third Edition (WRAT3) in 1993, and the WRAT4 in 2006. Expanding on the earlier versions, new features of the WRAT4 include a Sentence Comprehension subtest and a reading composite score (Wilkinson & Robertson, 2006). (WRAT-4) has the following subtests: Word Reading, including word recognition and identification, Sentence Comprehension, which measures the individual’s ability to comprehend ideas in sentences, Spelling, which is a written test that is presented orally by the test proctor, and Math Computation, which includes number identification, written math problems, counting, and some simple oral
The original KBIT had three subtests: Expressive Vocabulary, Matrices, and Definitions (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1990). When the revising process came around, Kaufman and Kaufman decided to substitute the Verbal Knowledge subtest with the Definitions subtest, replaced the Expressive Vocabulary with the Riddles subtest, and they revised the Matrices subtest in order to highlight fluid reasoning over visualization (Bain & Jaspers, 2010). The test authors replaced the Definitions subtest because it required a reading requirement, so they replaced it with the Verbal Knowledge subtest because the subject was not required to read anything and this allowed for a more efficient measure of verbal ability. The decision to replace the Expressive Vocabulary subtest was because the Riddles subtest could be administered to subjects of all ages.
The Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Third Edition (KTEA-3) is a revised and updated comprehensive test of academic achievement (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2014). Authored by Drs. Alan and Nadeen Kaufman and published by Pearson, the KTEA-3 remains an individually administered test of achievement intended for use with examinees ages 4 through 25 years, or those in grades Pre-Kindergarten (PK) through 12 and above. The KTEA-3 is based on a clinical model of academic skills assessment in the broad areas of reading, mathematics, and written and oral language. It was designed to support clinicians utilizing a Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) or Information Processing theoretical approach to assessment and detailed information regarding the structure
Even with material being taught incessantly, standardized tests can not accurately measure a student’s ability. The tests are “single-target—meaning that every student, no matter what level of achievement or ability, course selection, or cu...
Assessments should guide instruction and material selection. Any likely manner, assessments should measure student progress, as well as help, identify deficiencies in reading (Afflerback, 2012). One important indicator of reading deficiencies is spelling. Morris (2014), advocated the importance of administering a spelling assessment in order to have a better understanding of a student’s reading abilities. My school uses the Words Their Way spelling inventory to assess students’ reading abilities at the beginning of the year and throughout the reading year.
One of the most controversial topics in education today is the use of Provincial Achievement Testing, also know as PAT. PATs’ are used to assess and assist in improving programs, maintain standards and improve student achievement. These tests are standard tests that are at the same academic level for all students and focus on the same curriculum topics. All students write these tests at roughly the same time during the school in the same grade. In most provinces, students write PATs’ in grades three and six in elementary school. These tests feature sections from the core subject areas; math, literacy, science and social studies. Schools with french immersion have tests written in french with a french language sections as well. These tests are used to provide additional information regarding the students’ and school’s achievement. However, some organizations use this to compare schools and districts. Some teachers lack an understanding of these assessments and change their teaching practices to fit this perception. Teachers are focus to much on the basic information being covered by the test, and both all the curriculum that is listed. Teachers need to look at the difference between the assessment of learning over the assessment for learning. The view of assessing of learning has given external testing a lower view by teachers. External testing is used for checking the quality of education. There are three issues regarding assessing student learning with achievement testing, they are: the weak understanding of fair assessment, the perception of external accountability initiatives and the inappropriate assessment of at-risk students.
Achievement tests are retrospective in their purpose. That is, they are designed to evaluate development in knowledge and skills obtained in the relatively recent past (Murphy & Davidshofer,
Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these tests do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a student.
The district is now making all teachers use an assessment tool called iReady. It is a website that assesses students in math and reading. They are first tested on a kindergarten through fifth grade range to find out what they know. Then the program takes that score and determines the right level for the child and they are tested again on the level. Once all students have been assessed the program orders the students from highest to lowest and by average grade level skill they are on: early second grade, middle second grade, late second grade or any other grade. The teacher uses those scores to create her reading groups, math groups and the students she will give extra assistance to. They haven’t officially established how many times and when they will do this iReady assessment but for now they are doing it once a week for forty five minutes. The test also flags if they spent too long or too little time on a question. The ones that spent less than 15 seconds per problem are to go back and do the assessment again.
Current educational policy and practice asserts that increased standardized student testing is the key to improving student learning and is the most appropriate means for holding individual schools and teachers accountable for student learning. Instead, it has become a tool solely for summarizing what students have learned and for ranking students and schools. The problem is standardized tests cannot provide the information about student achievement that teachers and students need day-to-day. Classroom assessment can provide this kind of information.
Norm-referenced standardized tests (NRST) used for different administration over the decades. The NRST classifies individuals. It highlights achievements differences between and among students to develop reliable scores. In school systems NRSTs helps identified students for remedial programs. The U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (1992), establish a standardized test as one that uses (NAGC - ED Norm- and Criterion-Referenced Testing. (n.d.) (Retrieved from http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=314). Similar procedures for application and scoring in order to ensure that results from different people are comparable (Bond, 2010). NRST compares the performance of students with other students from large groups. Using a standardized test like the NRST will grade students in order from high to low achievers. A valid population must be from the widest range of the student population. Accordingly, the assessment must also report the status of student achievement “broken down by gender, ethnicity, disability, economic disadvantage, English proficiency, and...
1. When researching I found a post that listed a couple of limitations with the WIDA assessment. The first limitation is that the “students take almost the test each year” (Strauss, 2015). I found that some people believe that because the test is given annually the students will have been exposed to the questions in years before because “only one-third of the test’s items are refreshed annually” and because that “even the weakest students are able to improve their scores from one year to the next” (Strauss, 2015). Another limitation I found when researching is that with the WIDA assessment is that there is no appeal process. What this means is that if a student happens to do well on the WIDA assessment then they are no long able to be in “ESOL
In this world, there are many different individuals who are not only different in demographics but also different neurologically. Due to an immense amount of people it is important to first understand each individual, in order, to better understand them and to help them when it comes to certain areas such as education, the work force, and etc…. For this reason psychologists have aimed to further understand individuals through the use of psychological assessments. This paper aims to examine a particular assessment tool, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (Fifth Edition), which measures both intelligence and cognitive abilities (Roid, 2003). This assessment is usually administered by psychologists and the scores are most often used to determine placement in academics and services allotted to children and adolescents (despite their compatibility for adults) (Wilson & Gilmore, 2012). Furthermore before the investigation dives into the particulars of the test, such as its strengths and weakness’, it is best to first learn more about the intelligence scales general characteristics.
Popham, W. James. “Standardized Achievement Tests: Misnamed and Misleading.” Education Week. September 2001. Web. 28 June 2015.
Standardized testing remains to be a major controversial issue for the American society today. Exams are given to students at different levels in their educational career and are supposed to measure their academic knowledge, but are these tests really the best way to evaluate students? There have been numerous alternatives suggested to replace or be used in conjunction with standardized testing.
The teacher will also make norm-referenced and criterion referenced interpretations of assessment through this website. They have graph and color-coded bands that show widely held expectations for children’s development and learning. The teacher will use this website and graph to communicate twice a year with the parents about the child’s strength, weakness or any area of