The prediction of first-grade reading achievement from WPPSI scores of preschool children

The purpose of this study was to measure the relationship between the WPPSI IQs and subtest scaled scores in preschool children and their reading achievement in grade one. Twenty-eight suburban middle class children were given the WPPSI at ages three to five and retested with the Gray Oral Reading Test near the end of first grade. Significant correlations between WPPSI IQs and reading were found. These correlations were similar in magnitude to those obtained between WPPSI IQs of kindergarten children and grade one reading. Further study of the predictive power of the Geometric Designs and Arithmetic subtests was suggested on the basis of correlations obtained between these subtests and later reading scores.     

Test reviews

The WISC‐III and WPPSI‐R are both recent additions to the assessment scene. Each revised battery is technically excellent, and has several features that enhance its usefulness for gifted children: a very representative standardization sample; successful efforts to provide adequate “top” on all subtests, except at the oldest ages for which each battery is intended; and elimination of biased items. However, both revised tests place an unusually high premium on speed of responding, which may substantially affect gifted children's IQs. In addition, subtest stability tends to be low for both tests, hindering profile interpretation. Overall, both tests should make useful contributions to gifted assessment.     

Black-white IQ discrepancies may be related to differences in hemisphericity

WPPSI and McCarthy Scales subtests were ranked by members of the National Academy of Neuropsychology according to relative reliance on left-cerebral-hemisphere function. Pairs of blacks and whites matched for a variety of demographic variables were administered the WPPSI (132 pairs) and the McCarthy Scales (148 pairs). Difference scores were calculated, in standard score units, for each WPPSI and McCarthy subtest. A pattern of positive correlation occurred between the size of black-white differences and the judged degree of left-hemisphere involvement in the task, suggesting that black-white IQ discrepancies may be partially explained by differences in hemisphericity.     

Interpretation of the separate WPPSI tests for boys and girls at three age levels

The aim was to aid the clinician's interpretation of the six Verbal and five Performance tests constituting the WPPSI. Analyses were conducted for separate groups of boys and girls at ages $\text{4?4}\text{1}\text{2}$, $\text{5?5}\text{1}\text{2}$, and $\text{6?6}\text{1}\text{2}$ to determine the amount of specificity (reliable unique variance) for each test. Test specificity provides empirical evidence either for or against interpreting the specific traits or abilities that are presumed to be measured by a particular test. Most WPPSI tests were found to have enough specificity to warrant specific clinical interpretation for boys and girls across the age range. The clinical implications of the results are discussed.     

A comparison of the criterion-related validity (academic achievement) of the WPPSI and the WISC-R

Correlations of WPPSI IQs with concurrently administered subtests from the WRAT were compared with analogous WISC-R/WRAT correlations in a group of children referred by regular classroom teachers for school psychological services. Although the magnitudes of all correlations were reduced, due to restriction of range, the comparisons indicated no significant differences in the magnitudes of the correlations of the WPPSI and the WISC-R with the WRAT. These results support the use of the two instruments as equivalent predictors of achievement.     

Statistics related to profile interpretation of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test

The Peabody Individual Achievement Test has attained widespread use in the academic assessment of school-age children. Despite its popularity, little has been published regarding the appropriate interpretation of the five subtests making up the PIAT. The present paper provides standard errors of measurement of scaled scores for each subtest at five grade levels. Differences in scaled score units required at .05 and .01 significance levels for comparing each subtest to the mean subtest score are provided, and implications for interpretation are discussed.     

A guide to McCarthy interpretation

The aim of the present study was to develop a system of tables to facilitate interpretation of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities. Tables are presented that organize the McCarthy subtests according to Bannatyne's, Sattler's, and Meeker's systems of interpretation. In addition, tables that organize the McCarthy Scales into categories that reflect factors likely to influence various subtests are presented. These tables will provide a more structured approach to McCarthy interpretation and a straightforward empirical method for generating hypotheses regarding individual strengths and weaknesses in intellectual ability.     

Effects of alternative testing procedures on two subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery

The purpose of this study was determine whether or not the method of presentation chosen by the examiner (live voice vs. taped) affects a child's score on both the Blending and Memory for Sentences subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery. Subjects were 60 young children (mean age=8-3) and 60 older children (mean age=13-4) from a rural county school population. There were 30 black and 30 white children within each age group, and 15 children from each age and racial group were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions (live voice vs. taped presentation of subtests). For both subtests, there were significant main effects for presentation condition, racial group, and age level. There were no significant interactions. The overall pattern of results indicated that live voice presentation benefitted black and white children of both age levels in their scores on both subtests.     

Predicting Future Reading Attainment from the WPPSI

A sample of 150 children who had been tested on the WPPSI at five and a half years of age were subsequently tested on group and individual tests of reading at ages seven and eight years. Correlations of approximately ' 0.6 are reported with group tests of reading, but only low correlations were found in the sub-sample tested individually on the Neale test.     

The effect of omitting a limited number of subtests on the full scale reliability of the WISC-R

Changes in the full scale reliability of the WISC-R were computed at three age levels when each subtest was omitted by itself. Reliability was then determined when combinations of the two to five subtests which independently lowered the full scale reliability the most were omitted. The same procedure was followed with those subtests which independently had the smallest effect in lowering full scale reliability. The deletion of any one subtest had a negligible effect on reliability. Only when the combination of the five subtests having the greatest independent effect on full scale reliability was omitted did the reliability drop below.90. Cautions were rioted concerning the exclusion of sub-tests even when reliability remains acceptably high.     

Diagnostic utility of the number of Wisc‐III subtests deviating from mean performance among students with learning disabilities

This paper examined the diagnostic utility of subtest variability, as represented by the number of subtests that deviate from examinees' mean IQ scores, for identifying students with a learning disability (LD). Participants consisted of the 2,200 students in the WISC‐III normative sample and 684 students (Mdngrade = 5; Mage = 10.8) identified as LD. The number of subtests deviating from examinees' Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ by ±3 points for normative and exceptional samples were contrasted via Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analyses. Results indicated that LD students did not differ from normative sample children at levels above chance. It was concluded that deviation of individual subtest scores from mean IQ scores has no diagnostic utility for hypothesizing about students with learning disabilities. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Statistics for the enhancement of profile analysis on the test of language development-primary

The Test of Language Development-Primary is a recently published, comprehensive measure of young children's general language development. The manual provides much information on test development and standardization of the scale relevant to traditional normative interpretation, but says little about the statistical basis for profile analysis of the various subtest scaled scores. The present paper provides the necessary information for determining statistically reliable strengths and weaknesses in the performance of a single individual on each subtest, as compared to the mean level of performance across all subtests. Provided at each of five age levels are the standard errors of the difference between each score and the mean of all scores and the differences required for statistical significance at .05 and .01 significance levels.     

Significant differences between individual subtest scaled scores and average scaled scores on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised

This paper presents age-referenced tables that are used for determining significant differences between individual subtest scaled scores and average subtest scores on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R). The tables provide differences required at the .05 and .01 levels of significance between any Verbal scale subtest and the average of Verbal scale subtests, any Performance scale subtest and the average of Performance scale subtests, and any subtest with the average of all subtests administered. The information presented is useful for WPPSI-R profile analysis.     

An investigation of the Iowa tests of basic skills for sex bias: A developmental look

Results of the Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, and Mathematics Concepts subtests for third-, sixth-, and eighth-grade students who took Form 5 of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills in the 1976 school year were analyzed for sex bias. Statistical significance was found for each subtest for all of the grade levels. Follow-up analyses considered skill classification, sex-stereotypicalness, and item location of the items contributing to the statistical significance. No trends for these factors were found within each grade level for the four subtests considered. For all subtests, fewer items are identified at the third-grade level than for sixth or eighth grade, and these items, in general, favored boys. For the older students, when items are found to function differently for boys and girls, nearly half favor each sex. On the whole, little evidence for sex bias was found for the four subtests and three grade levels examined.     

The performance of preschoolers with speech/language disorders on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities

The McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) was used to evaluate the performance of preschool children with speech/language disorders. Preschoolers were screened first for normal intelligence using the Performance scale of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI). Preschoolers with speechllanguage disorders had significantly lower scores on all scales of the MSCA (Verbal, Perceptual/Performance, Quantitative, and Memory), except the Motor scale. They also had an average 20-point lower GCI than the control children. An analysis of the scores of the speechllanguage group on subtests revealed difficulty in short- term auditory memory skills but not in short-term visual memory skills. Deficits in categorical thinking skills and verbal expression skills were also evident. Characteriza- tion of learning disabilities in preschoolers with speechllanguage disorders is discussed.     

Standard score tables for the McCarthy drawing tests

Few adequately normed drawing tests are available for current practice. Two subtests of the McCarthy Scales, Draw-A-Design and Draw-A-Child, are the best normed of all drawing tests for children aged 2½ to 8½ years: however, no age-corrected deviation scaled scores are available for interpretaion, only raw scores and age equivalents. This paper presents scaled scores for use in interpretation of these two drawing tests.     

Morphological analysis,phonological analysis and learning to read French: a longitudinal study

This paper presents a longitudinal study, from kindergarten to secondgrade, which aims to examine the relationship between morphologicalanalysis, phonological analysis and learning to read. Three phonologicalawareness tasks, five derivational and four inflectional subtests wereadministered to fifty children at each of the three levels. Evolution ofperformance was analyzed through the three years. Data showed that withthe exception of two subtests, performance increased from kindergarten tofirst grade and from first grade to second grade, without reaching ceilingperformance in second grade, at least for morphological subtests. Linksbetween morphological and phonological analyses were very strong: inparticular, syllable segmentation was highly correlated with themorphological subtests in kindergarten while phonemic segmentation wascorrelated with morphological subtests in first and second grade. Therewere also strong links between morphological analysis and reading.Regression analyses showed that while phonological awarenessexplained a major part of variance in first grade, both phonologicaland morphological scores explained significant part of variance of bothdecoding and comprehension reading scores in second grade. Thus, thislongitudinal study contributes to the evidence of a link between bothphonological and morphological analysis and learning to read French.     

Correlations between WISC-R subtests and verbal,performance, and full scale IQ scores for minority group children

The relationship between WISC-R subtest scores and Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs was investigated for a sample comprised of rural Appalachian children. The sample was comprised of both white and black children who might be described as culturally different by virtue of low family income and residence in the mountainous areas of Virginia and North Carolina. Data analysis consisted of computing product-moment correlations (rs) between each of the ten subtests and the Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs. Correlations between individual subtests and the FS IQ ranged from.49 through.63, but none of the differences between these rs were large enough to attain significance. Correlations between the verbal subtests and Verbal IQ ranged from.64 for Comprehension up to.78 for Vocabulary. For the performance subtest, the rs ranged from.54 between Coding and the Performance IQ up to.72 for Object Assembly.     

Relationships between age and raw score increases on the Kaufman-assessment battery for children

Raw scores on the 16 K-ABC subtests and the total raw scores on the sequential and simultaneous processing scales and the achievement scale were correlated with age in months for two separate samples, each subdivided by race and sex: the K-ABC standardization sample (N = 2000) and an additional group of blacks and whites tested during the development of the K-ABC sociocultural norms (N = 615). Within each sample, the highest and lowest correlations from all race/sex groups were contrasted across all K-ABC subtests and scales. All correlations between age and raw scores were statistically significant (p ⩽ .05). No significant differences occurred in the magnitude of these relationships as a function of race/sex grouping, supporting the construct validity of the K-ABC as a developmental measure of children's aptitude and achievement for blacks, whites, Hispanics, males, and females.     

Cognitive processes underlying WISC-R performance of gifted and learning disabled navajos

The purpose of this study was to provide an empirical basis for the interpretation of the WISC-R performance of Navajo children according to the Luria-Das Model of Simultaneous and Successive cognitive processes. Two groups of Native American Navajo subjects, 45 learning disabled and 41 gifted, were given the WISC-R. The scores on those subtests expected to involve Successive and Simultaneous processes were factor analyzed for each group and two factors were extracted. The factors, essentially similar for both samples, were interpreted to reflect the Successive and the Simultaneous modes of processing information as suggested by the Luria-Das Model. The gifted and learning disabled children had disparate loadings for some of the subtests, suggesting that the two groups may be using distinct modes of coding information.