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The Woodcock-Johnson V Achievement Test is a nationally normed, individually administered test that shows how a child’s reading, math, writing, and language skills compare with other children the same age or grade.

Compared with group tests such as the Iowa Assessments, California Achievement, or Stanford Achievement Test, the WJ V is usually more detailed and personalized. A trained examiner gives it one-on-one and can identify specific strengths and weaknesses, rather than simply providing an overall academic score.

In simple terms: group tests are useful for general progress checks, while the WJ V provides a more thorough picture of how and why a child is learning.

The regular set of tests that we administer evaluate the three main parts of a student’s academic achievement: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Normally testing takes one hour per student. The academic clusters and sub-tests are as follows:

BRIEF READING: A measure of reading achievement including reading decoding and the ability to comprehend connected text while reading. This cluster is composed of Letter-Word Identification and Passage Comprehension.

Letter-Word Identification: Measures word identification skills. On early items, the examinee identifies individual letters on the tablet screen. For later items, the examinee reads individual words aloud that increase in difficulty.

Passage Comprehension: Measures reading and comprehension-knowledge. On early items, the examinee taps a picture that the printed word describes. For later items, the examinee reads a short passage and then says a word that makes sense in the context of the passage.

BASIC WRITING SKILLS: An aggregate measure of spelling single-word responses and applying mechanics of writing when writing orally presented sentences. This cluster is composed of Spelling and Sentence Writing Accuracy.

Spelling: Measures writing ability. The examinee writes words that the examiner dictates orally. Initial items involve writing upper- and lowercase letters while later items involve spelling increasingly difficult whole words.

Sentence Writing Accuracy: The examinee writes sentences that are dictated from an audio recording. Each written response is scored on dictation accuracy, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

BRIEF MATH: A measure of math achievement including problem-solving and computational skills. This cluster is composed of Applied Problems and Calculation.

Applied Problems: Measures the ability to analyze and solve math “word problems.” On early items, the examinee answers problems involving counting and simple addition and subtraction. Later items require knowledge of money, time, multiplication, and more complex mathematical operations.

Calculation: Measures the ability to perform mathematical computations. The examinee solves traditional math problems that include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and more complex mathematical operations.

You will receive a score report printout immediately following the assessment. There are three main scores that indicate how your student compares to his or her peers.

Grade Equivalent: This is an estimate of how the student performs along a developmental continuum. It may reflect the actual level of task difficulty a student can consistently perform. Thus, if a student receives a grade equivalent of 7.8, that means that he is estimated to do, in that particular subject, what an average student in the 8th month of the 7th grade would do if given the same questions. GE’s should not be the sole criterion for grade placement or other evaluation.

Age Equivalent: This is similar to the Grade Equivalent score except that it reflects age level rather than grade level. Thus, if a student receives an age equivalent of 10-9, that means that he is estimated to do, in that particular subject, what an average student who is 10 years and 9 months old would do if given the same questions.

Percentile Ranking: This score describes your student’s performance and relative standing in the norming group. For example, a PR of 90 means that a student scored as well as or better than 90 percent of the students his age or grade level, which would put him in the top ten percent of the students who took the test.

For the vast majority of students, the regular assessment of Brief Reading, Brief Math, and Basic Writing Skills is sufficient and fulfills the homeschool testing requirements for North Carolina. Sometimes a student may have a particular difficulty in one of these areas that warrants further assessment.

Math Fluency: This sub-test measures a student’s ability to answer basic math questions quickly. This is one of the few timed portions of the Woodcock-Johnson V.

Reading Fluency: This sub-test measures a student’s ability to read and understand basic sentences quickly. The student marks each sentence as “true” or “false.”

Academic Facts: The state of North Carolina does not requires homeschoolers to be tested in the subjects of Science, History, and Geography. This sub-test covers those areas and can provide a parent with a fuller picture of their student’s overall academic development.

Dyslexia Evaluation: Bowman Academic Services does NOT diagnose dyslexia, and our evaluation is not sufficient for your student to receive an IEP in a traditional school environment. The purpose of the Dyslexia Evaluation is to dig deeper into several areas of reading. You student will do a deeper assessment of vocabulary, phonetic decoding, reading comprehension, etc. After a further discussion with you as the parent, we will select a group of subtests that target your specific concerns. This evaluation normally adds at least an hour to the overall testing time.