Wechsler Fundamentals: Academic Skills Report

Subset Measures

The word reading gives a general overview of the child’s decoding abilities that can act as a teacher’s guide as he or she gives certain instructions to the child (Wechsler Fundamentals, 2012). To measure the child’s word reading skills a few tests were conducted. First, the children were given a number of letters to basically clarify if they identified them. A list of words was then presented to the kids to read as the teacher pays keen attention to the student’s ability of differentiating the words and their varying sounds. The score was awarded for how clearly the children could distinguish different words and letters as well as for their pronunciation.

The reading comprehension is yet another subset of tests fulfilled under the Wechsler Fundamental skills test. It helps the teacher evaluate a child’s ability to relate pictures of words and letters to their sounds (Wechsler Fundamentals, 2012). In this test, children were given a few pictures, which they needed to identify by name. After that, kids were required to go through few sentences word by word and repeat them out loud after the teacher. Finally, they were required to answer a few brief oral questions to see how much they could grasp from what they see or read. The scores that the examined obtained in the word reading and reading comprehension tests were then put together to present their reading composite score.

The spelling test is used to assess the ability of the child to transfer what he or she sees and hears to paper in terms of letters and words (Wechsler Fundamentals, 2012). To evaluate this, a few simple letters were read for the kids as they wrote them down. The teacher then read out some words and, finally, a sentence as the child noted them. The grading was made on the basis of correct spellings and shapes of the letters and the fact how fast the tested child could distinguish the material and write the dictations.

The final subset, numerical operations, helps in estimating the child’s ability to identify diverse numbers and record them correctly (Wechsler Fundamentals, 2012). To administer this trial, the teacher put numbers from 1 to 20 and pointed one at a time as the child named them. The kid was then required to write the numbers down as the teacher mentioned them one by one without looking at the board. Finally, he or she was asked to count some strokes and do simple additions and subtractions. The score was awarded for the speed and ability to identify and write down the numbers as well as for the correctness of simple arithmetic actions.

Specific Report on the Student’s Data

The standard scores are arrived at using the regular way. The mean of each test is the average score achieved by the group of students who underwent the same trial (Wechsler Fundamentals, 2012). In calculating the standard scores, the mean is taken to be 100, while the standard deviation is 15 (Carolyn, n.d.). The standard deviation here is the measure of the difference in score between the pupils who took the tests in the respective subsets. The intelligence quotient of the child is generally scrutinized in terms of the standard scores. Different sub-scores may be given as standard scores, however, these should not be considered as the IQ scores.

The percentile score is in most cases confused with the percentage one. The latter is more applicable in classrooms than in intelligence tests (Wechsler Fundamentals, 2012). By awarding 90%, the teacher implies that the child got 9 out of every 10 questions correct (Carolyn, n.d.).In the first test, the examined person obtained a 34^th percentile in the word reading subset. This means that 66% of the students received a higher score than the child in the test. In the reading comprehension exam, the child recorded an 82^nd percentile, meaning 18% scored higher than him/her. The reading composite, spelling and numerical operations marked 61^st, 5^th and 8^th percentile scores respectively. Therefore, in the corresponding subsets, the kid’s result is lower than or equal to 39%, 95% and 92% of the class (Carolyn, n.d.). The same criterion was used in the percentile scores in the second test. That is, 90% of the class had equal or higher marks than the pupil in the word reading test. The same method of analysis is applied to the remaining subsets of the examination.

Any test has factors that significantly influence the results. In the given test, the child’s performance could have been affected by the fact that English is not his/her first language (Swallows & Graupner, 2005). This must have been the reason why the examined kid could not get some of the pronunciations correctly. Since the test time was equal for all children, the student had less time to complete all the questions because the exam was conducted during the snack time. Perhaps a particular child undergoing the test would have gotten higher scores if it were not for that eating break.. Another thing that might have affected the results was the fact that the child was tested next to the guardian. This might have diminished the tenseness and improved the performance (Swallows & Graupner, 2005).

Recommendations and Instructional Goals

Looking at the child’s standard scores, one can conclude that the kid has above average intelligence. But the percentile scores in some tests show that most children in the same class performed better than the one under scrutiny. Parents can help their children improve the pronunciation and spelling skills by making more English conversations and teaching them new words whenever it is possible (Pressley, 2000). By the end of every week, the child should at least know how to read five new words with the ultimate aim to finally get used to the language.