Help Me Interpret These Reading Test Scores - (X Posted to General Ed)

[JumpyTheFrog]

CLUSTER / Subtest	Standard Score	Percentile Rank	Qualitative Description
READING	103	58th	Average
BROAD READING	119	90th	High Average
BASIC READING SKILLS	100	50th	Average
READING FLUENCY	126	96th	Superior
Letter-Word Identification	102	55th	Average
Word Attack	97	42nd	Average
Passage Comprehension	104	61st	Average
Oral Reading	109	73rd	Average
Sentence Reading Fluency	130	98th	Very Superior

These are my 9th grader's Woodcock Johnson test scores. Here are the descriptions from the report:

Quote

 

The Reading cluster is a measure of reading achievement, including reading decoding and the ability to comprehend connected text while reading. The cluster is a combination of Letter Word Identification (reading a list of words aloud) and Passage Comprehension (using syntactic and semantic cues to identify the missing words in a text). 

Broad Reading is a comprehensive measure of reading achievement, including oral sight-word reading skills (Letter Word Identification), silent reading comprehension speed (Passage Comprehension), and the ability to comprehend passages while reading silently (Sentence Reading Fluency). 

Basic Reading Skills is an aggregate measure of sight vocabulary, phonics, and a structural analysis that provides a measure of basic reading skills. This cluster is a combination of Letter Word Identification and Word Attack. 

Reading Fluency is a combined measure of Oral Reading skills and the ability to quickly read and comprehend sentences silently (i.e., Sentence Reading Fluency). 

 

The psychologist who did the educational testing didn't say much about these scores. I, however, am concerned about the giant gaps in percentiles between some of the areas. What might these gaps mean?

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by JumpyTheFrog

[PeterPan]

What’s rattling you is bell curve effect. Google it. Thats why they convert scores to standard scores,  so you can see significance.

Edited May 25, 2021 by PeterPan

[freesia]

I think those scores are more meaningful if you compare them with an aptitude test like WISC. The gaps are less that 30, so nothing jumps out to me except your dc did really well in reading fluency—Otherwise is average to above average. 

[AmandaVT]

Everything looks solid to me. Did you get any cognitive testing done? What you want to look for are unexpected difficulties, so if the FSIQ is 100 (average) and reading scores were mostly between 100-115 but something like Passage Comprehension was 75, that would be a concern. Or if the FSIQ was 100 and most of the reading subtests were in the 80's, that would want me to do more testing too. Also, looking at the cognitive scores, you want to see a relatively even set of scores. If everything is between 100-110 (as an example) it means that everything is relatively even. But if everything is between 100-110 but Working Memory is in the 60's, that's a red flag for a learning disability.

[Terabith]

Yeah, 70 point spreads in IQ subtests are super duper annoying.