FINAL REPORT

Haidee Garcia
EDUG 787
Professor Sheehan
December 16, 2014

Psycho-educational Evaluation
EXAMINEE: AG
AGE AT TESTING 10 years
DATES OF EVALUATION: 11/5, 11/7, 11/21

REPORT DATE: 12/16/2014

GRADE:
First
SCHOOL: Elementary

Tests Administered:
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test- 3rd Edition (WIAT-III)
Fountas Pinnell- Running Record
Writing Samples
Student Inventory
PART I. Background Information:
The student AG was a male in the 5th grade. He attends a public school and is placed in a
bilingual self-contained classroom, he has an IEP. The classroom consists of 12 students with a special
education teacher and one paraprofessional. As suggested by his teacher, AG was referred to testing in
order to fulfill the requirements course EDUG 787 Psychological Educational Assessment for At-Risk
and Disabled students that are a part of a Masters program at Manhattan College. AG was reported as
doing fairly well in school academically, with some strength and weakness in certain subjects.
Nevertheless, as expressed by the teacher and through observations, AG has some difficulty in
developing social interaction and communication with peers as he is very shy and reserved.
Behavioral Observations:
AG was a willing participant of the testing and complied with the requests made by the tester
during the assessment periods. The test was administered at school in a separate location from his
classroom. The sessions lasted about 45 to 50 minutes. Prior to testing, AG and the evaluator met
briefly to as a way of establishing trust and rapport. An inventory was administer to the student in
which it asked what his interests such as, his favorite foods, television show, music and celebrity. It
also asked what his sports, hobbies and interests are aside from school. AG worked quietly on the
student inventory preferring to read and answer the questions himself. The testing for AG consisted of
The WIAT-III test and 8 subtests; math problem solving, numerical operations and Math fluency for
addition, subtraction and multiplication. For reading it consisted of word reading, spelling and
pseudoword decoding. Along with theWiatt-3 I also completed a running record and two writing
assessments. The writing component of the assessment consisted of a free write in which the student
had to write about any topic he desired and a prompt assignment which he had to write about a specific
topic. He had a hard time writing the free write piece. This assignment was challenging for him because

it was hard for him to think and organize his ideas to focus on a particular topic. For this reason, I
proceeded to inform the student to then focus on writing the prompt assignment, that asked for him
think about a recent trip he went on with his class, friends, or family and to recall the events that
occurred at the trip. He was able to start the writing immediately, visibly more comfortable in receiving
an assignment that is guided and structure. This was reflected in his written piece, which followed a
logical format. In contrast, when asked to write about any topic, I immediately sense his reservations. I
gave him some ideas about what he could write, but he still struggled in writing. I decided that I would
use his interest and ask him what his favorite shows or pastime. From then on he was able to write, but
it was visibly harder for him to complete.
PART II Test Results
The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test- 3rd edition (WIAT-III) is an individually administered
clinical assessment designed to measure the achievement of a wide range of students who are in grades
Pre-Kindergarten to 12, or particularly from the ages of 4 through 19 years 11 months. Subtest areas are
as follows:
Math Problem Solving
Numerical Operations
Math Fluency: Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication
Word Reading
Pseudoword decoding
Spelling
Results Summary
WIAT-III
Subtests

Standard Score

Description Classified

Math Problem Solving

82

Below Average

Numerical Operations

95

Average

Math Fluency: Addition

91

Average

Math Fluency: Subtraction

89

Average

Math Fluency: Multiplication

87

Average

Word Reading

86

Average

Pseudoword Decoding

82

Below Average

Spelling

99

Average

Running Records

Reading Level O-difficulty with comprehension

Written Sample: Free Write

9/24 = Score 2

Written Sample: Prompt

17/24=Score 3

Interpretations:
Reading
Prior to testing the student, a running record was administered at the beginning of the year. The
instrument used for this testing was the Fountas and Pinell Benchmark Assessment, this was useful in
acquiring information to see at what reading level he is presently at and if he is able to move one level
up. AG is at level O, his running records indicated that he had a difficult time comprehending what the
main idea of the story is.
According to the WIAT-III, AG's reading skills are average with some indication of delay in
other areas when compared to other students his age. The word reading subtest consisted of 75 words in
which he had to read words aloud. AG was able to read words in the beginning with ease, however as
he progressed through the test the words became challenging for him to fluently read aloud. He was
unable to decode some of the words he came across, for instance, the word poise he pronounced it as
pose. In addition, he failed to pronounce the ending sounds of words for instance, the words
interject and radiant he would omit the ending t sound. As the words became longer he was
unable to decode them. The standard score that AG attained for this subtest was 86, which fell in the
average range. For the pseudoword decoding subtest, AG scored an 82 which falls below average. For
this subtest the student is asked to decode made up words. During this part of the test AG once again
had a difficult time with the ending sounds of words. For instance, the word rith he pronounced it as
rif also the words tuffle and heffle. Therefore, one can deduce that he is not seeing the word as
whole and therefore is not able to see the structure of the word since he is omit the ending sound of and
not pronouncing the complete word.
In addition, AG was administer the spelling subtest in which he was required to listen to a list of
words being said by the examiner and spell each of the words. For the beginning words, AG was very
fast at decoding and spelling them correctly as the words were simple and monosyllabic, for instance,
game, and cake. However, the words became more difficult as they were multi-syllable words. AG
spelled the word presence incorrectly as well as, the word reign in which he spelled it as rain.
this indicated that he has perhaps difficulty in deciphering the differences between words that are
homophones in essence.
Mathematics
According to the WIAT-III, AG's mathematics score ranged from below average to average. For
the problem solving subtest, the student is asked a series of math problems. He was unable to correctly
answer questions pertaining to reading bar graphs and answering a series of questions. AG's standard

score was 81 which fall below the average range. There were two instances in which he used pen and
paper to help him solve the problem.
For the numerical operations subtest, AG had to do some mathematical operations that included
a combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. His scores were a, 95 which falls on
the average range. Some of the mistakes throughout the subtest were in areas that required 4 digit
additions. Other than that he did fairly well on this part. He was able to do regrouping correctly and he
was able to correctly divide the numbers.
For the math fluency categories AG's standard score fell in the average range. The first subtest
AG took was the math fluency-addition. For this subtest, AG had to solve as many problems as
possible in 60 seconds. During this subtest, he was fast at responding to the problems. In 60 seconds he
was able to solve 28 math problems correctly out of 48. His standard score was 91. In the math
fluency-subtraction subtest, the same format was followed in which he had to solve as many
subtraction problems as possible. In 60 seconds, he was able to correctly answer 19 out of 48. His
standard score was 89 which fall in the average range. He used his fingers to do the counting, and he
was a bit slower than with addition. He appeared less comfortable in this section. During the last
subtest, math fluency-multiplication, AG took much longer to solve the problems. Once again he was
visibly less at ease in solving the problems. He was able to correctly answer 16 problems out of 48 and
his standard score was 87, which resulted in him being in the average range as well.
Writing
The writing component of the assessment consisted of free write in which the student can write
about any topic he chooses and a prompt assignment, in which he had to write about a particular topic
I gave to him. The free write assignment presented a challenge for AG who had difficulty thinking
about what to write. Nevertheless, after some minimal prompting from the examiner he was able to
produce a one page description of his favorite TV show, The Amazing World of Gumball. In
scoring his free write, a rubric was utilized, out of 24 points he scored 9 which represents a level 2. His
writing piece had some details however it lack a topic sentence, lack organization as there was no
evidence of a beginning, middle and end. His writing piece showed some sentence fluency. The writing
neither had an expressive or an engaging voice. In addition, the word choice for the writing piece was
limited and rarely showed thought and precision. Although, it contained some errors in grammar his
handwriting and presentation was very neat and clear which made it easy to read. It is evident from the
score he received that he struggled in writing the free write piece. In contrast, when it came to writing
the prompt piece, AG was able to easily begin his writing. He wrote two full pages on his trip to the
zoo. His scoring total was 17 points out of 24 which brings him to a level 3. His writing piece had

original details with a fairly well develop topic. He had various details, describing the animals he saw
at the zoo and how they were interacting with one another. His organization was logical in which he
demonstrated a beginning, middle and end, as depicted when he wrote how he and his family ended the
day by heading to McDonalds to eat lunch. His writing piece was very engaging and his expressive
language was evident throughout. When reading this piece, one can clear hear his animated voice
describing the animals and a funny incident he witness with the monkeys. He showed sentence fluency
and variation in sentence structure. Although, the word choice for the writing piece was limited with
the use of clich words, he had few errors in grammar his handwriting and presentation was very neat
and clear which made it easy to read. It is evident from the scores of the free write and prompt pieces
that AG enjoys writing a great deal more when he is provided with a topic rather than the free write.
From observations, one can deduce that in providing a topic, students are able to organize their
thoughts and develop their ideas clearly because it helps them stay focus on answering the particular
topic.
Recommendations
After reviewing the data, there are a few recommendations to assist the teacher and student to achieve
academic success.
In mathematics, it is evident from reviewing the scores on the multiplication subtest that he
needs assistance in learning his multiplication facts since he struggle the most with this section. Some
strategies to use to teach him multiplication facts would be to set a routine of practice. It has been
shown that consistent exposure throughout the years by activities and perhaps practice drills can lead
students to effectively learn math facts. Another strategy that is very useful in teaching math facts is
through music. In a research conducted by Anderson (2000), found that the use of music as a
mnemonic device result in better recall of the multiplication facts than with the traditional verbal
linguistic and mathematical-logical approach.
In reading/language arts, a strategy to employ to improve his comprehension would be to guide
him with the reading; essentially it would be helpful to question him as he reads to test if he is
comprehending the text and to clear any misconceptions. Also, by drawing attention to vocabulary
words and exposing him to words before the reading can help focus on the reading and enhance his
recall. His performance on the pseudoword decoding and the word reading denotes difficulties in
decoding phonics this stems from his inability to read words in its entirety and most likely affects his
comprehension.
The results from his two writing pieces demonstrate the needs of the students. The free writing
portion of the assessment presented a challenge. The lack of structure and guidance made it clear that

the student is more effective at writing pieces that present a topic. In order to assist the student with this
it would be beneficial to consistently expose the student to writing compositions that are both open
ended and prompted. A great strategy to utilize is to provide the student with a check list that serves as
a guide or steps in writing. This checklist would encourage the student to focus and be responsible for
checking and reflecting on his work to make sure he has accomplish all of the goals.
In working with students who require assisting in reading and writing utilizing hands on
activities will provide students with the incentive and focus in the hopes that he will achieve academic
success. If these strategies are used AG, he will show progress within the areas that were assessed in
the WIAT-III.