Preschool and Educational Assessment

1. Preschool and Educational Assessment PSY/SPED 572

2. Testing Preschoolers • Preschool = birth to five • Need to assess some children because of IDEA • Find infants and toddlers that need services • Provide them with services that continue into school • Focus at this age is on a “family plan” • Testing starts early • APGAR • Screening for needing assistance stabilizing • Screening for possible neurological deficits

3. Testing Preschoolers • Checklists • Presence or absence of behaviors • Rating scales – judgment of relative standing • CBCL (Achenbach) • BASC-2 • Conners Ratings Scales – Revised • Used as screening tools

4. Testing Preschoolers • IQ tests • Stanford-Binet V • WPPSI-III • Developmental histories • Interviews • Role-plays

5. Achievement Tests • Achievement vs. aptitude • General achievement measures • Survey learning in more than one academic area • WRAT-3 • WIAT-2 • Are standardized and norm-referenced • May not reflect curriculum of local schools • Takes years to develop

6. Achievement Tests • Specific achievement tests • Measure skills in one area • Tests of English proficiency • TWOL • TOLD • CBA • CTOPP

7. Aptitude Tests (Other than IQ tests) • Aptitude measure life learning • Use to make predictions • Serve as indicators of “readiness • Elementary • Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT) • Group administered • Measures math and reading skills (e.g., letters) • Secondary • SAT, ACT • Post-secondary • GRE • Miller Analogies Test • MCAT • LSAT

8. Miller Analogies Test The sample analogies that follow are typical of those you will encounter when you take the MAT. • SPRING : RING :: COIL : (a. rope, b. loop, c. cowl, d. stretch) • 97° : 45° :: (a. obtuse, b. equilateral, c. angle, d. cosine) : ACUTE • MOLLUSK : (a. fish, b. cell, c. plant, d. mammal) :: PEARL : AMBERGRIS • (a. epistemology, b. axiology, c. teleology, d. pedagogy) : ONTOLOGY :: KNOWLEDGE : BEING • ELBOW : NERVE :: HINGE : (a. lever, b. electricity, c. fulcrum, d. wire) • INDIVIDUAL : MUNICIPALITY :: LOAN : (a. county, b. bond, c. stock, d. certificate) • HOMOPHONE : (a. paradigm, b. antonym, c. synonym, d. acronym) :: SOUND : MEANING • (a. Rembrandt, b. Dalí, c. Cassatt, d. Matisse) : MONET :: WHISTLER : CÉZANNE • IVE : -ION :: ADJECTIVE : (a. verb, b. noun, c. conjunction, d. adverb) • CONSTITUTION : MAGNA CARTA :: UNITED STATES : (a. Pilgrims, b. Virginia, c. England, d. Rome)

9. For each item, the correct answer is given first in parentheses and is then followed by an explanation. • (b. loop) A spring forms or has the shape of a coil, and a ring forms a loop. • (a. obtuse) An acute angle is less than 90°, so a 45° angle is acute. An obtuse angle is between 90° and 180°, so a 97° angle is obtuse. Thus, 97° is to 45° as obtuse is to acute. • (d. mammal) Pearls are found in oysters, a type of mollusk; ambergris is found in sperm whales, a type of mammal. • (a. epistemology) In the discipline of philosophy, ontology is the branch that deals with the nature of being, and epistemology is the branch that deals with the nature of knowledge. (Axiology is the study of values; teleology is the study of purpose in nature; and pedagogy is the art of teaching.) • (d. wire) The elbow of an arm and a hinge on a door or gate function similarly; a nerve (a cordlike bundle of fibers) functions in the nervous system similar to the way a wire functions in an electrical system. • (b. bond) An individual borrows money by obtaining a loan; a municipality borrows money by issuing a bond. • (c. synonyms) Words that have the same sound are called homophones; words that have the same meaning are called synonyms. • (c. Cassatt) Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne were two French painters, and Mary Cassatt and James Whistler were two American painters, all of whom were born in the nineteenth century and lived into the early twentieth century. (Rembrandt, Dalí, and Matisse were all painters, but they were Dutch, Spanish, and French respectively.) • (b. noun) The suffix -ive is used to form an adjective denoting action; the suffix -ion is used to form a noun denoting action. • (c. England) The Constitution is the defining political and legal document of the United States; the Magna Carta was a political charter granted by the King of England in which basic rights were delineated.

10. Diagnostic Tests • Used to pinpoint difficulties for remedial purposes • Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised • KeyMath-Revised • Stanford Diagnostic Tests

11. Psychoeducational Batteries • Measure academic skills and abilities related to academic success • K-ABC • Includes subtests on intelligence and achievement • Ages 3-18 • Based on CHC or information processing model of intelligence

12. Psychoeducational Batteries • Differential Abilities Scale (DAS) • Ages 2:6-17 • Hierarchical model base • Designed primarily for differential diagnosis and treatment planning • 20 subtests – which are given depends upon age • Flexibility to test outside of age levels with appropriate norms

13. Psychoeducational Batteries • Woodcock-Johnson III • Ages 2-90 • CHC theory • Considered one of the best tests available • Can use cognitive and achievement batteries separately

14. Other types of assessment • Minimum competency • E.g., for high school graduation • Performance assessment • Requires more than selection of a response • Portfolios • Authentic assessment • Peer appraisal – peer group makes evaluation • Measuring study habits, interests, and attitudes toward school • Academic Competence Evaluation Scales