My childs broad math was at 2.6 this year,last year it was1.9 according to the Woodcock Johnson test .She will be going into 4th grade this September.She made a years progress in reading but not a full years progress in math I was told it was because of her slow processing that it did not go up as much.I was assuming it was because they had not taught division yet.And if it is because of her slow proccessing isn’t she allowed not to be timed on the test?
A Better Math Measuring Stick
If you or school are adament about using a norm-referenced test, why not consider the Key Math. You don’t have to give all of it—it is quite lengthy and quite good. It will tell you more than the WJ-R because all the operations are lumped together in that test (multiplication/division/money/time, etc). The Key Math breaks them down more, making it easier to tell where the real problems occur.
If you trust your school and they are game, why not try some curriculum-based measurements in math. Those are done very often (weekly/monthly) in order to provide feedback/progress notes on how the student is doing with what is actually being taught. Then, use your standardized tests as 2-3 year check-points.
Re: clarify WJ test progress
You are looking at grade level norms - the further away they are from your child’s grade the less reliable they are- look instead at the standard score, with 100 being average +/- 15 points in either direction. These scores are based on the bell curve, all of which should have been explained to you by the special education teacher. then take this score and compare it to other standard scores in reading as well as her intelligence score. If there is 15 points in a negative direction (in my opinion 10 points) then there is an issue. If you have not been given standard scores for these scores you need to request them. Also the WJ math sections are very weak..As Susan suggested the KeyMath is a better tool or better yet the Stanford. You may email me with any clarification you may need.
Carolyn
One of the problems with using a test like the WJ to document progress each year is that you just can’t tell unless the evaluator talks about specific things she could and could not do on the test. The grade level score from a normed test is virtually useless without that discussion. It is pretty useless anyway because of the way it is derived- but becomes more useless in this sort of a situation.
On the WJ-R none of the math tests are timed. There is a suggested amount of time per item which a good evaluator will follow because otherwise it renders the results pretty meaningless. Endless amounts of time on one problem suggests lack of skill more than slow processing issues in most cases. On the WJIII the only test that is timed is Math Fluency- which is included in the Broad Math score- but it has to be timed other wise it is invalid.
Robin