P.A.S.S. Test/Woodcock Johnson

[pamd]

Can you tell me your thoughts on these two tests?

[Pamela H in Texas]

What *I* like about the WJ is that it gives the child's individual levels rather than where he compares to other students (percentile or the average student in X grade does on this test). It is more telling, imo, as it lets you find at what level in each task the child is performing. You can also easily see gaps or areas of excelling.

[Laurie4b]

The Woodcock Johnson is an individually-administered achievement test. It cannot be purchased except by professionals, so you'd most likely have to find someone else to administer it. Expect to pay $50-75.

 

Unlike other standardized tests such as the Iowa or CAT that are designed to compare groups of students to other groups of students and which can only be reliably used as a screening tool for individual students, the WJ was designed to measure the achievement of an individual student. It's used as part of a test battery to identify gifted students as well as students with special needs. In contrast to the CAT and Iowa, the WJ presents examinees with test questions in a range, not just one grade level. A child who is advanced will keep getting more advanced questions until s/he misses 6 in a row. The test ranges are from preschool age through college. Because of this, a grade level score from the WJ is actually likely to mean something IRL. (If your student gets nearly all the items on a 5th grade CAT test correct, you might come out with a grade level of 10th grade. This means that the ave. tenth grader, taking the 5th grade test, received the same score as your student, but it does not mean that your student can do 10th grade work. On the WJ, the student would have been presented with work above and below 10th grade and therefore is more likely to actually be working at a 10th grade level if that's the grade equivalent on the WJ. You still have to use your judgment.

 

The WJ gives you a range of scores: percentile ranking, standard score (this is used to compare to other tests, such as an IQ test), grade equivalent, and age equivalent.

 

I used to administer the WJ, so would be glad to answer other questions.

[luvnlattes]

I've used the PASS test for a couple of years now. You administer the test yourself and send in the forms. Within a few weeks you receive the results.

 

The results will show the raw score...how many correct out of how many attempted and the percent correct associated with that. Then it will go on to show how the student ranks compared with all homeschooled students taking the PASS test and then a Nat'l ranking which compares your student to the Metropolitan Achievement Test.

 

The results include an analysis of your student's overall performance (High, High Avg, Avg, etc.) and then analyze their individual performance with regard to specific goals. For example, in the reading section the goals were:

1. Word Meaning

2. Literal Comprehension

3. Interpretative Comprehension

4. Evaluative Comprehension

Each specific goal is also evaluated with the High, High Avg, Avg, etc. categories. Then they give you recommendations to improve your results or to challenge your student more in the future. The recommendations are computer generated so keep in mind they are general recommendations for the all students that scored "average" or "high" rather than individualized recommendations.

 

My state requires a test or an assessment once a year, so I use the PASS test to meet that requirement. I don't necessarily use it to find out how they are doing. Let me know if you have any more questions about PASS. I don't have any experience with the other test you mentioned.

[MamaT]

What *I* like about the WJ is that it gives the child's individual levels rather than where he compares to other students (percentile or the average student in X grade does on this test). It is more telling, imo, as it lets you find at what level in each task the child is performing. You can also easily see gaps or areas of excelling.

 

My thoughts as well. My children go to a local private school every year to take the WJ.

[EKS]

The tests are completely different in many ways but could give you similar information.

 

The WJ-III is an achievement test that is administered individually. It continues until the child can't answer any more questions. Because of this it is good to determine the level of a child who is working far above what is typical of his/her grade or for extremely asynchronous kids. For the most part the test is untimed, though there are a few sections that are timed. It needs to be administered by a qualified professional.

 

The PASS test is administered at home by the parent. It is untimed. The child takes a placement test and then the real achievement test at the level determined by the placement test. This way the child is tested at the level he/she is performing, not at the grade-by-age level and the child can test at different levels for each subject (math, reading, and language). Because of this, it is also good for kids who are working far ahead or are asynchronous. One problem with the PASS test is that it uses outdated norms (like 20-30 years out of date).

 

There is no question that the WJ-III is the better test. It is considered the gold standard of achievement tests. If it were me, I would initially test with the WJ-III and the PASS test (or ITBS) to get a baseline. Then I'd do the PASS or ITBS yearly thereafter, getting a WJ-III assessment only every 3 years or so if you feel a more accurate test is needed.

[pamd]

Thanks for your imput. I took the P.A.S.S. test last year after the person doing the WJ testing was not able to do it. I know the cost is more expensive for the WJ. I didn't know the norms wher outdated on the pass. Should I try the WJ this year? I have had to go back and teach my son multiplication and realized this year we are struggling in adding. He is suppose to be 5th grade. Last year was my 1st year and I found out a lot of things we had to learn that I thought he knew in public school. He had honor roll in public school so I am still confused about that. I don't want to not work on the things I know he needs because they are foundations for all the rest. I wonder if WJ would be my best bet.

[pamd]

I wish I knew how to use this site better. I talked with a guy who is doing the WJ test and he said there will not be any timed things with the test. My son doesn't do well with being timed. I don't know what is best. I appreciate your imput. I am not sure if I am reply to these the right way. If not let me know how and I will do it. Thanks again.

[pamd]

I don't know where else to go but how do I pull up my post and check responses? I had to search under testing to find this one. I am also not sure how to reply back on responses from my post. Can you help me with this also? Yes I am needy.:lol:

[Georgia On My Mind]

Hi

I have no information or experience with the PASS but I have administered the WJII for many years. It is, as someone has already mentioned, the gold standard for achievement tests and well recognized in any academic community. I have found it to be very accurate in showing a student's grade level, strengths and weaknesses and if given with a complete battery of tests it will show if your student shows signs of any of learning disorders. It is very comprehenisve and depending on who administers the test should give you a very detailed report. I administered it yearly to the students I worked with in educational therapy to measure their progress but for the average student, it would be overkill yearly. Another problem arises if administerd yearly, the students can become too familiar with the testing instrument. There is an alternate version of the WJIII that is supposed to be used if you test often but the tests are very expensive and unless you are testing in a public school, you probably won't even find a psychologist who has both versions on hand. I used the WJIII with a battery of other tests to determine IQ, achievement, processing weaknesses, reading level and more. It takes someone with graduate level or above training to purchase or administer the WJIII and they must have been trained in college or by someone certified to train for the WJIII. That would be an psychologist, neuropsychologist or educational or cognitive therapist, etc. The educational level, cost of the test and training are all reasons for this test being expensive to administer. That is also another reason to only use WJIII every few years and use ITBS or SAT on a yearly basis. You can find someone in your area certified to administer both of these by contacting BJU. They have a list of testers they have certified to give the test and you simply contact one of them and purchase the test and scoring through BJU. I hope this was helpful.

[Laurie4b]

The test is not timed, though the examiner will encourage the child to move along. There are some instances in which if the child does not answer within a certain period of time, the examiner will say, "Let's try this one." A good administrator makes it very comfortable for the child. But no section is timed, per se.

 

The other part that is good about it, is that reading ability does not color the other sections of the test, either for good or ill. Everything but the actual reading sections are read aloud to the child. (Most also have the same stuff written down for the child to read along.)

[Laurie4b]

I don't know where else to go but how do I pull up my post and check responses? I had to search under testing to find this one. I am also not sure how to reply back on responses from my post. Can you help me with this also? Yes I am needy.:lol:

 

You can just scan for the title of your post on the first two pages or go to the top blue bar and hit search and then type a word from the subject line of your post.

 

To reply to a reply, look in the lower right hand corner for the paper and pencil icon (that will just reply) or hit quote and that will quote everything the other poster had written and you can type your questions under it.

[Laurie4b]

Thanks for your imput. I took the P.A.S.S. test last year after the person doing the WJ testing was not able to do it. I know the cost is more expensive for the WJ. I didn't know the norms wher outdated on the pass. Should I try the WJ this year? I have had to go back and teach my son multiplication and realized this year we are struggling in adding. He is suppose to be 5th grade. Last year was my 1st year and I found out a lot of things we had to learn that I thought he knew in public school. He had honor roll in public school so I am still confused about that. I don't want to not work on the things I know he needs because they are foundations for all the rest. I wonder if WJ would be my best bet.

 

Since your child is struggling and you have need for accurate individual data, I would stick with the WJ.

[Quad Shot Academy]

I don't know where else to go but how do I pull up my post and check responses? I had to search under testing to find this one. I am also not sure how to reply back on responses from my post. Can you help me with this also? Yes I am needy.:lol:

 

Click on the tab that says User Control Panel and it will let you know if you have any new responses. You can also subscribe to a thread by clicking the thread tools tab and selecting, "Subscribe." Any new posts in that thread will show up in your User Control Panel also.

 

We used the PASS test with good results. I found the breakdown of sections adequate. My son did not do as well on the LA portion, but by looking at the breakdown of the sections I could tell that his editing and punctuation tanked his score, but over all he is doing well in LA. I am considering using the WJIII the next time we test though, as he is almost at the ceiling of the PASS. I can't think of anything else helpful to say, but if you have questions I might be able to answer them!

[EKS]

The test is not timed, though the examiner will encourage the child to move along. There are some instances in which if the child does not answer within a certain period of time, the examiner will say, "Let's try this one." A good administrator makes it very comfortable for the child. But no section is timed, per se.

 

 

 

There are certain parts of the WJ-III that are timed: reading fluency and math fluency are the ones that I know about.

[Laurie4b]

There are certain parts of the WJ-III that are timed: reading fluency and math fluency are the ones that I know about.

 

Are they part of the standard battery? Way back when I used to administer the WJ-R, they had only the writing fluency, which was timed, but it wasn't part of the standard battery.

[EKS]

Are they part of the standard battery? Way back when I used to administer the WJ-R, they had only the writing fluency, which was timed, but it wasn't part of the standard battery.

 

They are part of the broad reading and broad math scores so I'm assuming they're part of the standard battery.

[pamd]

Thank you so much you where a big help.:001_smile:

[Mom-ninja.]

How do I go about finding someone who can give the WJ?

[cylau]

We went through a psychologist. Cost us $350. I am sure you can find cheaper ways to get the test.

[pamd]

Thanks so much I really appreciated your imput.

[pamd]

Thank you. I am still struggling with using this site. I feel it has a wealth of information but not sure about how to get around very well. I appreciate your help.

[pamd]

You where a great help thank you so much!!