Stability and Concurrent Validity of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test

1994

This study examined the concurrent validity and diagnostic efficiency of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) with 75 elementary and middle school students with learning disabilities, who had been referred for triennial multidisciplinary re-evaluations. High and significant correlations were found between the K-BIT and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III). However, K-BIT Vocabulary-Matrices discrepancies were not in agreement with WISC-III Performance IQ-Verbal IQ discrepancies. Substantial agreement was found between the presence or absence of achievement-ability discrepancies identified by the K-BIT Composite and the Woodcock-Johnson Revised Tests of Achievement (WJ-R ACH) and those identified by the WISC-III full scale IQ and the WJ-R ACH. Results suggest that diagnostic precision can be maintained and time may be saved by utilizing a brief ability measure (K-BIT) as a substitute for a comprehensive ability measure (WISC-III) in the re-evaluation process of students with learning disability. (Contains 16 tables and 29 references.) (Author/DB) *

Psychological Assessment, 2013

Long-term stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) was investigated for children with specific learning disability (SLD), serious emotional disability (SED), and mental retardation (MR). Participants were 522 students from 33 states twice evaluated for special education eligibility over a mean test-retest interval of 2.87 years. There were no differential effects of disability groups on long-term stability coefficients. Stability coefficients for Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) scores were acceptable for all three disability groups. Of the global IQ and Index scores, only the Freedom from Distractability Index, Processing Speed Index, and Verbal IQ-Performance IQ discrepancy score stability coefficients were inadequate. Subtest stability was also inadequate. Mean changes from first testing to second testing for IQ and Index scores were not significant and the two significant subtest changes were not clinically meaningful due to small effect sizes. Individual change scores revealed that only the FSIQ was sufficiently stable for use with individual students with SLD, SED, or MR. Results extended those of Watkins (1998, 1999) supporting long-term stability for the WISC-III.

Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 1999

Long-term stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) was investigated for children with specific learning disability (SLD), serious emotional disability (SED), and mental retardation (MR). Participants were 522 students from 33 states twice evaluated for special education eligibility over a mean test-retest interval of 2.87 years. There were no differential effects of disability groups on long-term stability coefficients. Stability coefficients for Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) scores were acceptable for all three disability groups. Of the global IQ and Index scores, only the Freedom from Distractability Index, Processing Speed Index, and Verbal IQ-Performance IQ discrepancy score stability coefficients were inadequate. Subtest stability was also inadequate. Mean changes from first testing to second testing for IQ and Index scores were not significant and the two significant subtest changes were not clinically meaningful due to small effect sizes. Individual change scores revealed that only the FSIQ was sufficiently stable for use with individual students with SLD, SED, or MR. Results extended those of Watkins (1998, 1999) supporting long-term stability for the WISC-III.

Psychology in the Schools, 1995

To test the construct validity of brief measures of intelligence and explore how well these instruments relate to academic performance, the WPPSI-R, the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Scale (K-BIT), Draw-A-Person: Quantitative Scoring System (DAP:QSS), and the K-ABC Achievement Scale were administered to 50 kindergarten and firstgrade children. Results indicated that all measures provide similar scores, all in the average range. All brief measures related significantly to academic achievement. Implications of the findings are discussed, and a battery for screening young children is offered.

Psychology in the Schools, 1995

These two studies examined the stability reliability for the Woodcock-Johnson-Revised (WJ-R; and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievment (KTEA; with approximately a 2-week retest interval for elementary-age students. Results indicated that across grade levels, the Broad Reading Cluster for the WJ-R remained stable. Most correlations for the clusters for mathematics and written language as well as the subtests for reading, mathematics, and written language were less than .90. Correlations for all composites and subtests for the KTEA exceeded .90. These data illustrate the need for more specific information in test manuals on test-retest reliability in order to enable examiners to select the most reliable measures.

Marked WISC-R verbal-performance discrepancy commonly leads to the assumption that such children have brain pathology or cognitive disorders. Children without brain dysfunction may also exhibit wide discrepancy, but a discrepancy score of30 is assumed to occur in only 2% of the population. The actual investigation presents an ll-year-old child showing a 54-point discrepancy between the two scales ofthe WISC-R. Results of wide ranging testing and other considerations strongly suggested that this child didn't manifest any kind of brain dysfunction. It was concluded that the particular academic environment of the child, an alternative school, exerted a very strong influence on her results on the WISC-R. This conclusion is furthermore supported by the results of a follow-up evaluation, done 1 year after the child has been transferred to a traditional school, which revealed a WISC-R verbal-performance discrepancy of only 12 points.

Behavioural Neurology, 1992

Marked WISC-R verbal-performance discrepancy commonly leads to the assumption that such children have brain pathology or cognitive disorders. Children without brain dysfunction may also exhibit wide discrepancy, but a discrepancy score of 30 is assumed to occur in only 2% of the population. The actual investigation presents an 11-year-old child showing a 54-point discrepancy between the two scales of the WISC-R. Results of wide ranging testing and other considerations strongly suggested that this child didn't manifest any kind of brain dysfunction. It was concluded that the particular academic environment of the child, an alternative school, exerted a very strong influence on her results on the WISC-R. This conclusion is furthermore supported by the results of a follow-up evaluation, done 1 year after the child has been transferred to a traditional school, which revealed a WISC-R verbal-performance discrepancy of only 12 points.

Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 1996

The present study examined the concurrent validity and diagnostic efficiency of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT). Seventy-five students with learning disability were administered the K-BIT, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III), and Woodcock-Johnson-Revised Tests of Achievement (WJ-R ACH) as part of their triennial reevaluation. Correlations between the K-BIT and the WISC-III ranged from .18 (r2 = .03) to .82 (r2 = .67), M, = .62 (Mr2= .38). High levels of agreement were obtained between the K-BIT and WISC-III in identifying severe achievement-ability discrepancies on the WJ-R ACH. The K-BIT appears to be a promising general intellectual screening instrument when more comprehensive assessment is not possible or needed.

Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing,, 2020

Tests of intelligence are a prelude to the diagnosis of specific learning disabilities. This study selected three commonly preferred performance measures, such as the Porteus Maze Test (PMT), Seguin Form Board (SFB), and Gesell Drawing Test (GDT), to examine their inter-correlations. A single-shot correlation survey design was combined with convenience sampling to determine the nature, direction, degree, and extent of co-variance of test scores between the chosen tests for an overall sample of 161 students with specific learning disabilities. The overall trends and concerning personal-demographic variables like age, gender, level of schooling, and type of curriculum, were investigated. For the overall sample (N: 161), the obtained mean SFB mental age of 109.79 (SD: 20.38), GDT mental age of 98.80 (SD: 20.07), and PMT mental age of 103.75 (SD: 29.07) months. The GDT appears to be estimating mental ages less by five points against the PMT, and by twelve points against the SFB in the targeted children. Analysis of inter-correlations between the test scores on pairs for the three tests of intelligence shows moderate to highly significant correlation (p: <0.05) ranging from 0.48 and 0.53, irrespective of which among them is used as anchor test. This means that they all possess good convergent validity for their regular use during clinical practice in the diagnosis of children with learning disabilities

Psychology in the Schools, 1985

Correlations between the WISC-R, the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement clusters, the Woodcock-Johnson Aptitude clusters, and the Broad Cognitive Ability Score were evaluated, using as a sample 60 BD male adolescents. Aptitude cluster scores were found to have insufficient validity to justify computation for such a population. The Broad Cognitive Ability Score was found to be significantly correlated to all W-J Achievement cluster scores. Implications were discussed of Hotelling's t-test analyses examining the correlations between the four W-J Achievement cluster scores and the WISC-R VIQ as compared to the four W-J Achievement cluster-Broad Cognitive Ability correlations.

Methodological Innovations , 2022

Pediatric intelligence tests, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, are commonly used diagnostic tools used in the process of diagnosing learning and behavior disabilities. Decisions concerning treatment are made based on the results of these tests and they are frequently used in educational and vocational contexts for important decisions that impact persons’ academic or professional lives. Research has however shown that important errors may occur despite the application of validation processes and adherence to quality criteria for psychometric tests. At the same time this evidence seems not to be pervasively acknowledged in psychological practice and research. In this article, I will showcase research that places attention on sources of measurement error in pediatric intelligence testing, discuss a process-performance approach to measurement in intelligence testing, and propose the “pretest methods,” methods stemming from the field of survey methodology commonly used in questionnaire construction, as a method to help address the problem of sources of measurement error in pediatric intelligence testing and improve the development of these intelligence tests.

Journal of School Psychology, 2003

Using IQ records from 10 sites around the country, we examined longitudinal trends in IQ among mental retardation (MR) students during the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) to WISC-Revised (R) transition in the 1970s and learning disability (LD) students during the WISC-R to WISC-3rd Revision (III) transition in the 1990s. Based on the work by Flynn [American Journal of Mental Deficiency 90 (1985) 236; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 6 (2000) 191], we predicted a rise in IQ followed by a fall each time a newly normed IQ test is introduced into the schools and used to diagnose children as MR or LD. As expected, we found that mean IQs of MR and LD students followed a nearly identical parabolic trajectory, and differed depending on what year they were tested. IQs from the older norms were higher than IQs from the newly introduced norms. This systematic shift had a significant impact on the likelihood of a MR diagnosis. The broader implications of this pattern are discussed.

Frontiers in Psychology

Intelligence is considered the strongest single predictor of scholastic achievement. However, little is known regarding the predictive validity of well-established intelligence tests for school grades. We analyzed the predictive validity of four widely used intelligence tests in German-speaking countries: The Intelligence and Development Scales (IDS), the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS), the Snijders-Oomen Nonverbal Intelligence Test (SON-R 6-40), and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV), which were individually administered to 103 children (M age = 9.17 years) enrolled in regular school. School grades were collected longitudinally after 3 years (averaged school grades, mathematics, and language) and were available for 54 children (M age = 11.77 years). All four tests significantly predicted averaged school grades. Furthermore, the IDS and the RIAS predicted both mathematics and language, while the SON-R 6-40 predicted mathematics. The WISC-IV showed no significant association with longitudinal scholastic achievement when mathematics and language were analyzed separately. The results revealed the predictive validity of currently used intelligence tests for longitudinal scholastic achievement in German-speaking countries and support their use in psychological practice, in particular for predicting averaged school grades. However, this conclusion has to be considered as preliminary due to the small sample of children observed.

Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 2006

Although often applied in practice, clinically based cognitive subtest profile analysis has failed to achieve empirical support. Nonlinear multivariate subtest profile analysis may have benefits over clinically based techniques, but the psychometric properties of these methods must be studied prior to their implementation and interpretation. The current study posed the following question: Is Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) cluster membership based on nonlinear multivariate subtest profile analysis stable over a 3-year period? Membership stability to a subtest taxonomy, including constancy of displaying an unusual profile, was based on data from 585 students. General (.39) and partial (.26 to .51) kappa coefficients either failed to reach statistical significance or indicated poor classification stability, with the exception of two profile types. It was concluded that, with these two possible exceptions, profile-type membership to an empirically derived WISC-III subtest taxonomy should not be used in interpretation or educational decision making.

PsycEXTRA Dataset

When the United States Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act in 2004 (IDEIA 2004), local educational agencies (LEA) were permitted to use a Response-to-Intervention (RTI) approach for identifying children with possible learning disabilities for special education. Furthermore, IDEIA 2004 no longer required LEAs to establish an IQ-achievement discrepancy for determining a Specific Learning Disability (SLD). Although federal law no longer mandates the need for an IQachievement discrepancy for determining an SLD, most school psychologists continue to employ this approach for the assessment of children at-risk for SLD. Furthermore, some researchers suggest that although the IQ-achievement discrepancy model may not be the best approach for identifying children at-risk for SLD, school psychologists should continue to use intelligence tests as part of the assessment process. The current paper (a) provides a brief review of the IQ-achievement discrepancy model, (b) reviews concerns of using intelligence tests within a RTI framework, and (c) reviews some of the major criticisms regarding the IQ-achievement discrepancy model.