Doran Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 I'm not test savvy at all. We have not had our daughter tested in any extensive manner, but when we started her with a Wilson reading tutor last February ('07), we needed some baseline scores. So, the tutor gave her the Woodcock-Johnson III/Reading portion only. Over the past few weeks, she has retested our dd and today gave me a whole new set of scores. The improvements are dramatic, as best I can tell, and I am pleased as can be about that. But, I still don't really entirely grasp the "what this means" or the "where we go from here". So, those of you with a more solid grasp of how to analyse these scores, I'd sure appreciate your feedback. The first tests were administered in Feb. 2007. At the time, my dd was 10 years and 2 months old. Her tutor wrote the old and new scores side by side on the current test results under a few items, but not under all of them. So, taking her lead, I'll copy those two sets of scores here: Broad Reading ---- Old SS (68% BAND) = 82 (81-84) Current SS (68% BAND) = 101 (99-103) Old GE = 2.8 Current GE = 5.9 Basic Reading Skills ---- Old SS = 87 (86-89) Current SS = 100 (97-103) Old GE = 2.8 Current GE = 5.7 Word Identification Old SS = 78 (75-80) Current SS = 104 (102-106) Old GE = 2.4 Current = 4.6 Reading Fluency Old SS = 88 (86-90) Current SS = 104 (102-106) Old GE = 3.2 Current GE = 6.7 Spelling Old SS = 74 (70-78) Current SS = 88 (84-92) Old GE = 2.0 Current GE = 3.8 Passage Comprehension Old SS = 91 (88-94) Current SS = 106 (100-112) Old GE = 3.1 Current GE = 7.7 Word Attack Old SS = 99 (97-102) Current SS = 108 (104-113) Old GE = 4.7 Current GE = 8.6 The tutor pointed out that spelling is, plainly, still the weakest link. We use Sequential Spelling and plan to continue with that unless there is some reason to strongly recommend we switch to something else. But, I'm not sure where else to go with these scores vis-a-vis our curriculum choices. FWIW, although dd is 11, she is a very young 11 (12/28/96) and therefore we work as if she is a fifth grader. What do other parents make of these scores? Thanks for bearing with such a data-full post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 I don't have any feedback regarding the scores. I would ask, though, what YOU have observed about her reading ability? Do these improved test scores translate into real world reading competency for your dd? Is she reading more fluently at a higher level? Test score are meaningless without the context of her real behavior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Posted May 14, 2008 Author Share Posted May 14, 2008 I don't have any feedback regarding the scores. I would ask, though, what YOU have observed about her reading ability? Do these improved test scores translate into real world reading competency for your dd? Is she reading more fluently at a higher level? Test score are meaningless without the context of her real behavior. I'm sorry that I failed to include that piece of information. Yes, yes -- there has been definite improvement in her academics in the past year. No question about that at all! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 I don't have any feedback on the scores, but I'm so happy for you and your daughter. What great improvements she has made! You must be thrilled. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 I don't have any feedback on the scores, but I'm so happy for you and your daughter. What great improvements she has made! You must be thrilled. Lisa What Lisa said. :001_smile: It sounds like the Wilson tutor was a good investment of time and money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 So, those of you with a more solid grasp of how to analyse these scores, I'd sure appreciate your feedback. The first tests were administered in Feb. 2007. At the time, my dd was 10 years and 2 months old. Her tutor wrote the old and new scores side by side on the current test results under a few items, but not under all of them. So, taking her lead, I'll copy those two sets of scores here: Broad Reading ---- Old SS (68% BAND) = 82 (81-84) Current SS (68% BAND) = 101 (99-103) Old GE = 2.8 Current GE = 5.9 Basic Reading Skills ---- Old SS = 87 (86-89) Current SS = 100 (97-103) Old GE = 2.8 Current GE = 5.7 Word Identification Old SS = 78 (75-80) Current SS = 104 (102-106) Old GE = 2.4 Current = 4.6 Reading Fluency Old SS = 88 (86-90) Current SS = 104 (102-106) Old GE = 3.2 Current GE = 6.7 Spelling Old SS = 74 (70-78) Current SS = 88 (84-92) Old GE = 2.0 Current GE = 3.8 Passage Comprehension Old SS = 91 (88-94) Current SS = 106 (100-112) Old GE = 3.1 Current GE = 7.7 Word Attack Old SS = 99 (97-102) Current SS = 108 (104-113) Old GE = 4.7 Current GE = 8.6 . There is a very significant positive gain in every one of the scores! Basically, your daughter has moved from the below average range in nearly every area to solidly in the average range! That means she is on grade level in reading Yea! (And spelling has improved significantly, though not quite to grade level.) When there is no overlap at all between the confidence bands (that's the part in the parentheses), there is a 66% chance statistically (or around that) the the change is real, not due to chance. If the gap between the two sets of scores is greater than the difference between the numbers in the parentheses, then the chance that the change is real is something over 90%. If the numbers in parentheses overlap at all, you can't say for sure that there has been a real change. The ranges for the Woodcock Johnson would be :Low" 70-79 "Below Average" 80-89, "Average "90-109" "High Average" 110-119 and so on. Your daughter has improved in a statistically signficant way on every single measure. Wilson would not likely change a Woodcock Johnson spelling score that much because NONE of the words can be spelled phonetically. You'll need to work on that another way. You should be having a PARTY! :grouphug::party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Posted May 15, 2008 Author Share Posted May 15, 2008 There is a very significant positive gain in every one of the scores! Basically, your daughter has moved from the below average range in nearly every area to solidly in the average range! That means she is on grade level in reading Yea! (And spelling has improved significantly, though not quite to grade level.) When there is no overlap at all between the confidence bands (that's the part in the parentheses), there is a 66% chance statistically (or around that) the the change is real, not due to chance. If the gap between the two sets of scores is greater than the difference between the numbers in the parentheses, then the chance that the change is real is something over 90%. If the numbers in parentheses overlap at all, you can't say for sure that there has been a real change. The ranges for the Woodcock Johnson would be :Low" 70-79 "Below Average" 80-89, "Average "90-109" "High Average" 110-119 and so on. Your daughter has improved in a statistically signficant way on every single measure. Wilson would not likely change a Woodcock Johnson spelling score that much because NONE of the words can be spelled phonetically. You'll need to work on that another way. You should be having a PARTY! :grouphug::party: Laurie, thank you so much for this summary!! Maybe it's a good thing that the tutor was not nearly so "effervescent" about it, because I might have burst into tears right then and there. Reading your remarks just makes my heart swell. I knew our dd was doing so much better, but still, when you have another student who has been nearly a polar opposite in terms of how she learns (ie: academically gifted), it's so hard to figure out what "normal" is supposed to be. Thanks so much for putting it in terms I could understand! So....any thoughts on where we go from here? I'm not jumping to change anything, but at what point does a tutor become unnecessary, if ever? Already, we aren't able to fit our schedules together more than about 3x per month -- this tutor is exceptionally busy as a Wilson trainer for the east coast. And spelling -- do you feel that Sequential Spelling is a good choice? I know you recommend the overteaching method, but I admit to not "going there" at this point. Up until now, I've felt the goal was to just get dd to grade level on reading. Now that we're there, I'm not sure how to act. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 The tutor I work with likes Sequential Spelling combined with Megawords. They are completely different approaches to spelling. Sequential Spelling works only on spelling. Megawords works on spelling, vocabulary, and reading with multisyllable words. Both of these programs are recommended for kids who are reading at 4th grade level and above for the very first book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 I just want to say I'm joining in the party for your dd. Well done both of you....and the tutor too! :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 Sequential Spelling has a good rep for dyslexic kids. (It got tiresome for me to do the feedback the way it said in the book! And I didn't think my kiddos were picking it up as well/as fast as I'd like. ) Different strokes for different folks! For my kids with dyslexia, what I did was mommyguesstimate what level I thought each SHOULD read on, and then shoot for that. It's worked! What book in Wilson did your dc get through? I would go into REWARDS from here. It will review vowel combinations and work on multi-syllabic words. I like REWARDS intermediate better than REWARDS secondary (because of some differences in set up and what is presented and how much) and you could use either at the 5th grade level. I would also do regular repeated oral readings. My ds who just had dyslexic issues moved up 4 grade levels with REWARDS. Second ds, who has rapid naming issues on top of the regular dyslexic stuff, needed to do REWARDS then REWARDS Plus to get to where I want him. He has loved their science. I let him look both at the science and the social studies online. He loves history and I thought he'd pick ss, but he went for the science, and it's been a huge hit! We do repeated oral readings on days when we don't do a REWARDS lesson. He h-a-t-e-s them but oh well. REWARDS is scripted, so you don't have to do any planning :thumbup: Just find your teacher's book and kiddo's workbook, a pencil , and a clock with a second hand, and you're set! Congratulations to your dc again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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