Wide Range Achievement Test
Encyclopedia
The Wide Range Achievement Test 4 (WRAT4) is an achievement test
which measures an individual's ability to read
word
s, comprehend
sentences
, spell
, and compute solutions to math
problems. The test currently is in its fourth revision.
The test was developed in 1941 by psychologists Sidney W. Bijou
and Joseph Jastak.
The test is appropriate for individuals ages 5–94 years. The WRAT4 provides two equivalent forms (Blue and Green), which enables retesting within short periods of time without potential practice effects that occur from repeating the same items. The alternate forms also may be administered together in a single examination.
The Wide Range Achievement Test 4 (WRAT4) is the latest offering in a test series first published in 1946. The various editions of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) have enjoyed widespread use in a variety of settings as a measure of the basic academic skills necessary for effective learning, communication, and thinking: reading and spelling words and performing basic mathematical calculations.
The WRAT4 is published by and available from Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.. A computerized scoring program and interpretive report are also available.
Description: The Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) is a brief achievement test measuring reading recognition, spelling, and arithmetic computation. There are two levels; level I is normed for children ages 5–0 to 11-11; level II is normed for children aged 12 through adults aged 64.
Scoring: Norms provided for the 1978 edition include standard scores with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, percentile scores, and grade levels. The standard scores are scaled based on the norm group; the grade levels are arbitrarily assigned and can be interpreted only as rough references to achievement level. Only standard scores should be used for comparisons among scores.
Reliability: The manual reports split-half reliabilities of .98 for Reading at both levels, .94 for Arithmetic at both levels, .96 for Spelling I, and .97 for Spelling II. During the norming study, both levels of the WRAT were administered to children ages 9 through 14. Since there is overlap in skills tested between the high end of level I and the low end of level II, this provides another estimate of the reliability of both. On Reading and Spelling, split-half reliabilities ranged from .88 to .94 for different age groups; on Arithmetic they ranged from .79 to .89. These results indicate that overall the reliability of the WRAT is excellent.
Validity: The test most similar to the WRAT is the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), another short, individually administered test which covers comparable material. In general the WRAT correlates very highly with the PIAT. The WRAT correlates moderately with various IQ tests, in the range of .40 to .70 for most groups and most tests.
Norms: The 1978 WRAT norms are based on 15,200 subjects for seven states. According to the manual, no attempt was made to make the sample representative of national characteristics. The manual states that minorities were represented, but gives no data on their representation. The sample was stratified by age, sex, and approximately by ability.
Suggested Uses: Recommended uses for the test described in the manual include comparing achievement of one person to another, determining learning ability or learning disability, comparing codes with comprehension in order to prescribe remedial programs, and informally assessing error patterns to plan instructional programs.
An added feature in the WRAT4 is a Reading Composite Score.
Achievement test
An achievement test is a test of developed skill or knowledge. The most common type of achievement test is a standardized test developed to measure skills and knowledge learned in a given grade level, usually through planned instruction, such as training or classroom instruction...
which measures an individual's ability to read
Reading (process)
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or deriving meaning . It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas...
word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s, comprehend
Reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a text. This understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text. ....
sentences
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
, spell
Spelling
Spelling is the writing of one or more words with letters and diacritics. In addition, the term often, but not always, means an accepted standard spelling or the process of naming the letters...
, and compute solutions to math
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
problems. The test currently is in its fourth revision.
The test was developed in 1941 by psychologists Sidney W. Bijou
Sidney W. Bijou
Sidney William Bijou was an American developmental psychologist who developed an approach of treating childhood disorders using behavioral therapy, in which positive actions were rewarded and negative behaviors were largely ignored, rather than punished.-Early life and education:Bijou was born in...
and Joseph Jastak.
The test is appropriate for individuals ages 5–94 years. The WRAT4 provides two equivalent forms (Blue and Green), which enables retesting within short periods of time without potential practice effects that occur from repeating the same items. The alternate forms also may be administered together in a single examination.
The Wide Range Achievement Test 4 (WRAT4) is the latest offering in a test series first published in 1946. The various editions of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) have enjoyed widespread use in a variety of settings as a measure of the basic academic skills necessary for effective learning, communication, and thinking: reading and spelling words and performing basic mathematical calculations.
The WRAT4 is published by and available from Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.. A computerized scoring program and interpretive report are also available.
Description: The Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) is a brief achievement test measuring reading recognition, spelling, and arithmetic computation. There are two levels; level I is normed for children ages 5–0 to 11-11; level II is normed for children aged 12 through adults aged 64.
Scoring: Norms provided for the 1978 edition include standard scores with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, percentile scores, and grade levels. The standard scores are scaled based on the norm group; the grade levels are arbitrarily assigned and can be interpreted only as rough references to achievement level. Only standard scores should be used for comparisons among scores.
Reliability: The manual reports split-half reliabilities of .98 for Reading at both levels, .94 for Arithmetic at both levels, .96 for Spelling I, and .97 for Spelling II. During the norming study, both levels of the WRAT were administered to children ages 9 through 14. Since there is overlap in skills tested between the high end of level I and the low end of level II, this provides another estimate of the reliability of both. On Reading and Spelling, split-half reliabilities ranged from .88 to .94 for different age groups; on Arithmetic they ranged from .79 to .89. These results indicate that overall the reliability of the WRAT is excellent.
Validity: The test most similar to the WRAT is the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), another short, individually administered test which covers comparable material. In general the WRAT correlates very highly with the PIAT. The WRAT correlates moderately with various IQ tests, in the range of .40 to .70 for most groups and most tests.
Norms: The 1978 WRAT norms are based on 15,200 subjects for seven states. According to the manual, no attempt was made to make the sample representative of national characteristics. The manual states that minorities were represented, but gives no data on their representation. The sample was stratified by age, sex, and approximately by ability.
Suggested Uses: Recommended uses for the test described in the manual include comparing achievement of one person to another, determining learning ability or learning disability, comparing codes with comprehension in order to prescribe remedial programs, and informally assessing error patterns to plan instructional programs.
An added feature in the WRAT4 is a Reading Composite Score.
Further reading
- Reynolds Intellectual Assessment ScalesReynolds Intellectual Assessment ScalesThe Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales is an individually administered test of intelligence that includes a co-normed, supplemental measure of memory. It is appropriate for individuals ages 3–94 years....
- Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, Second EditionWide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, Second EditionThe Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, Second Edition is a standardized test that measures an individual's memory functioning]]. It evaluates both immediate and delayed memory ability along with the acquisition of new learning...