132 ESSENTIALS OF KTEA™-3 AND WIAT®-III ASSESSMENT

Composites

The WIAT-III includes eight composites. Total Achievement, Oral Language, Written Expression, and Mathematics are similar to their WIAT-II counterparts, whereas Total Reading, Basic Reading, Reading Comprehension and Fluency, and Math Fluency are new composites. WIAT-III core and supplemental composites are shown in Figures 3.1 and 3.2, respectively.

Administration and Scoring Rules

Those WIAT-III subtests with multiple start points include the same reverse rule as in the previous edition: If the first three items administered are scored 0 points, administer items in reverse order until three consecutive scores of 1 are obtained (or item 1 is reached). However, the discontinue rule has been shortened to four consecutive scores of 0, and the discontinue rule is now the same for all applicable subtests.

New or modified scoring rules have been developed for all subjectively scored subtests (Reading Comprehension, Oral Expression, Alphabet Writing Fluency, Sentence Composition, and Essay Composition). The new scoring rules are designed to be valid, reliable, and clinically sensitive.

Skills Analysis

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The WIAT-III provides skills analysis capabilities at the item level or within-item level, depending on the subtest. Item-level skills analysis is provided for four subtests: Reading Comprehension, Early Reading Skills, Numerical Operations, and Math Problem Solving. Within-item level skills analysis is provided for three subtests: Word Reading, Pseudoword Decoding, and Spelling. Item-level skills analysis specifies the skill(s) measured by each item, whereas within-item skills analysis specifies the skill(s) measured by each

part within the item and requires the examiner to select the specific parts within each item that were answered incorrectly.

Intervention Goal Statements

For examiners who use Q-global or the WIAT-III Scoring Assistant, intervention goal statements are available for 10 of the 16 subtests: Reading Comprehension, Early Reading Skills, Numerical Operations, Math Problem Solving, Word Reading,

134 ESSENTIALS OF KTEA™-3 AND WIAT®-III ASSESSMENT

Supplemental

Subtests

Composites

Word Reading

(1-12+)

Basic Reading

(1-12+) Pseudoword

Decoding

(1-12+)

Reading

Reading Comprehension Comprehension (1-12+)

and Fluency (Grades 2-12)

Figure 3.2 Supplemental WIAT-III Composites

Source: Figure is adapted from Figure 1.1 of the WIAT-III Examiner’s Manual (Pearson, 2009b, p. 3).

Pseudoword Decoding, Spelling, Oral Reading Fluency, Sentence Composition, and Essay Composition.

New Analyses

Federal regulations specify several criteria for identifying a specific learning disability (SLD), including underachievement in one or more areas, failure to make su cient progress in response to targeted intervention, and a pattern of strengths and

WIAT®–III 135

weaknesses in performance, achievement, or both (34 CFR §300.309[a]). The IDEA 2004 introduces greater flexibility in the assessment process for identifying learning disabilities and/or determining eligibility for special services. Similar to the WIAT-II, the WIAT-III provides the capability of conducting an ability-achievement discrepancy analysis using either the simple di erence or predicted achievement method. The WIAT-III also includes the capability of conducting a pattern of strengths and weaknesses discrepancy analysis, which most closely resembles the ConcordanceDiscordance Model of SLD identification presented by Hale and Fiorello (2004).

New Scores

Growth scale values (GSVs) are provided for tracking progress over time on each of the WIAT-III subtests. GSV Charts, or growth score curves, are also provided in Q-global and the Scoring Assistant to assist examiners in plotting a examinee’s growth trend relative to the average growth trend.

Supplemental standard scores are available for Word Reading, Pseudoword Decoding, Essay Composition, and Oral Reading Fluency. Word Reading and Pseudoword Decoding each provide an optional measure of reading speed. This score is calculated by recording the item number reached at 30 seconds and converting that item number to a standard score. Essay Composition yields a supplemental standard score for Grammar and Mechanics, which requires the calculation of correct minus incor-

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rect word sequences (CIWS). Finally, Oral Reading Fluency yields two supplemental scores, Oral Reading Accuracy and Oral Reading Rate.

New to the WIAT-III are standard scores for components of subtests. This new feature provides greater interpretability of subtest scores when the subtest is composed of two or three task components.

Validity Studies

The WIAT-III provides linking (correlation) data with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence–Third Edition (WPPSI-III; Wechsler, 2002), the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Fourth Edition (WISC-IV; Wechsler, 2003), the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008), the Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability (WNV; Wechsler & Naglieri, 2006), and the Di erential Ability Scales–Second Edition (DAS-II; Elliott, 2007). In addition, WIAT-III linking data with the WPPSI-IV is provided in the WPPSI-IV Technical and Interpretive Manual (Wechsler, 2012b) and linking data with the WISC-V is provided in the WISC-V Technical and Interpretive Manual (Wechsler, 2014b).