Part 1 of 3 part WJ IV introduction workshop at NASP 2014 in Washington DC.

1. Introduction to the
Woodcock-Johnson IV
WJ IV TESTS OF COGNITIVE ABILITIES (WJ IV COG)
WJ IV TESTS OF ACHIEVEMENT (WJ IV ACH)
WJ IV TESTS OF ORAL LANGUAGE (WJ IV OL)

2. WJ IV
The WJ IV is a theoretical, structural, and interpretive
revision of the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ III) designed
to provide more administration and interpretive
options for meeting contemporary assessment
needs.

3. Part I Session Objectives
Learn about the WJ IV design objectives,
how the evolution of CHC theory is reflected in the WJ IV,
learn about the new Verbal Attention and Nonword Repetition tests,
and the
structure and function of each battery in the
◦ Tests of Cognitive Abilities
◦ Tests of Oral Language
◦ Tests of Achievement
Presenter: Fred Schrank

4. Part II Session Objectives
Tests of Cognitive Ability
Tests of Oral Language
Overview of GIA and CHC factor clusters,
selected new or revised tests and data
analysis results
Kevin S. McGrew, PhD

5. Part III Session Objectives
●Use of WJ IV variation
and comparison
procedures for SLD
identification
●Selected new cognitive,
oral language, and
achievement tests
Nancy Mather, PhD

6. Acknowledgment
Four generations of the
Woodcock-Johnson
Richard W. Woodcock, EdD

7. Disclosure and Purpose
Presenters are all co-authors of the Woodcock-Johnson IV
Purpose is to explain
◦ What is new and different in the WJ IV
◦ Why?

8. WJ IV Design Goals
Contemporary measurement model of an evolving CHC
theory of human cognitive abilities:
Measure the most important cognitive, language, and
academic abilities;
Focus on the ecological and predictive validity of key tests
and interpretive clusters;

9. New and useful options for comparing abilities
within and across batteries:
Options to explore individual strengths and weaknesses across
cognitive, linguistic, and academic abilities;
A new fluid-crystallized composite for comparison to measures
of cognitive processing, linguistic competency, and academic
achievement for determination of relative strengths and
weaknesses across all domains;
Each battery organized for ease of use, leading with a core set of
tests in each battery for use as a predictor pool for calculations
that identify relative strengths and weaknesses among
administered tests and clusters;

10. ●Elevate the importance of oral language abilities as essential
correlates of cognitive and academic functioning.
●Provide an overall index of oral language ability in Spanish as well as
in English with a practical option for administering the Spanish tests.
●Provide three parallel forms of the standard battery of the WJ IV
ACH to avoid potential over-exposure to items on any given form.
●Focus on psychometric quality that has been associated with the
previous editions of Woodcock-Johnson batteries.

11. Evolution of CHC Theory in the WJ IV
WJ—Scientific-Empirical
WJ-R—Gf-Gc Theory
WJ III—CHC Theory
WJ IV—Beyond CHC Theory

12. The WJ IV reflects the most contemporary thinking on CHC
theory
Short-Term Working Memory (Gwm)
WORKING MEMORY is a dynamic, temporary storage system that
allows information—either sensory inputs or prior knowledge—to be
held in immediate awareness and manipulated
Change in terminology reflects professional nomenclature
Among all of the human memory systems, Working Memory is the
easiest for professionals, teachers, and parents to understand

13. Working memory is a broad construct drawn
from research in neuroscience
Working memory connects the YOU of the present with the YOU of the past
Working memory is the gateway to long-term memory
Encoding (learning new material) occurs in working memory
Encoding connects the YOU of the present with the YOU of the future

14. The WJ IV Gwm cluster may be defined as a measure of working
memory capacity (WM), a diagnostically important and
quantifiable aspect of the more broadly-encompassing working
memory construct used in contemporary neuroscience
Three tests of working memory capacity:
●Verbal Attention
●Numbers Reversed
●Object-Number Sequencing

15. New
Examinee listens
to an intermingled
series of animals
and digits
presented on the
audio recording
and is asked to
answer a specific
question regarding
the sequence
COG Test 3: Verbal Attention
(Sample test items deleted for test security reasons)
In addition to
working memory
(WM), task requires
attentional control
(AC: controlled
executive function;
aka, focus)
A working memory task
with
high ecological validity,
simulating typical
requirements
of working memory
performance
in the classroom.

16. The WJ IV reflects the most contemporary
thinking on CHC theory
Speed of Lexical Access (LA)
●Rapid Picture Naming is a speeded serial picture naming
task requiring rapid object recognition.
●Retrieval Fluency is a speeded name-generation task
requiring activation of a semantic network.
Together these test measure an ability to rapidly and fluently
retrieve words from an individual's lexicon via verbal
efficiency in object naming and automaticity of semantic
network activation.

17. The WJ IV reflects the most contemporary thinking
on CHC theory
Memory for Sound Patterns (UM)
●Narrow ability definition expanded to include phonological
storage ability or short-term memory for speech sounds.
●Related constructs include phonological short-term memory,
phonological loop, and echoic memory.

18. New
COG Test 12: Nonword Repetition
• Ga
(PC) / Gwm (UM/MS)
•Cognitively/factorially complex measure of
Gwm (UM/MS) and Ga (PC)
• Examinee listens to a nonword and then must
repeat the utterance exactly
• Linked to ability to learn new words (Gathercole et al)
• Significant body of research has found such tasks to
be significantly related to (and be possible “markers”
of) reading disabilities, dyslexia and SLI
(specific language impairment)
(Sample test items deleted for test security reasons)

19. WJ IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities
Standard
Battery
Tests 1-10
Extended
Battery
Tests 11-18

20. Test 1: Oral Vocabulary
Test 2: Number Series
Test 3: Verbal Attention--NEW
Test 4: Letter-Pattern Matching--NEW
Standard
Battery
Tests
Test 5: Phonological Processing--NEW
Test 6: Story Recall
Test 7: Visualization
Test 8: General Information
Test 9: Concept Formation
Test 10: Numbers Reversed

21. WJ IV COG Standard Battery
BIA—Tests 1-3
GIA—Tests 1-7 [Core Tests]
Gc—Tests 1 & 8
Organized for
Gf—Tests 2 & 9
Ease-Of-Use
Gf-Gc—Tests 1, 2, 8, 9
Gwm—Tests 3 & 10
Cognitive Efficiency—Tests 5 & 10

22. Test 11: Number-Pattern Matching
Test 12: Nonword Repetition—NEW
Test 13: Visual-Auditory Learning
Extended
Battery
Tests
Test 14: Picture Recognition
Test 15: Analysis-Synthesis
Test 16: Object-Number Sequencing
(Renamed)
Test 17: Pair Cancellation
Test 18: Memory for Words

23. WJ IV COG Extended Battery Clusters
Perceptual Speed (P) [Tests 4 & 11]
Number Facility (N) [Tests 10 & 11]
Auditory Processing (Ga)
Long-Term Retrieval (Glr)
Organized for
Selective Testing
Visual Processing (Gv)
Cognitive Processing Speed (Gs)
Fluid Reasoning-Extended (Gf3)
Short-Term Working Memory-Extended (Gwm3)
Quantitative Reasoning (RQ) [Tests 2 & 15]

24. WJ IV Tests of Oral Language
New
Oral Language Ability
Listening Comprehension
Oral Expression
Phonetic Coding (PC)
Speed of Lexical Access (LA)
Oral Language Ability—Spanish
Listening Comprehension—Spanish
☺
Organized as a Diagnostic
Supplement to either the WJ IV COG
or WJ IV ACH or for use
independently

25. WJ IV Tests of Oral Language
Test 1: Picture Vocabulary
Test 2: Oral Comprehension
Test 3: Segmentation—NEW
Spanish Tests
Test 4: Rapid Picture Naming
Test 10: Vocabulario sobre dibujos
Test 5: Sentence Repetition (Renamed)
Test 11: Comprensión oral
Test 6: Understanding Directions
Test 12: Comprensión de indicaciones
Test 7: Sound Blending
Test 8: Retrieval Fluency
Test 9: Sound Awareness

26. WJ IV Tests of Oral Language
Tests 1 & 2 comprise the Oral Language cluster in English
Tests 1-4 are core tests
Test 9: Sound Awareness--for phonological screening
An ancillary examiner procedure for Spanish tests
Organized for
Ease-of-Use and
Selective Testing

27. WJ IV Tests of Achievement
Standard Battery (Tests 1--11)
Extended Battery (Tests 12--20)
Three forms of Standard Battery (A, B,C)
A
B
C

28. Test 1: Letter-Word Identification
Test 2: Applied Problems
Test 3: Spelling
Test 4: Passage Comprehension
Test 5: Calculation
Test 6: Writing Samples
Test 7: Word Attack
Test 8: Oral Reading--NEW
Test 9: Sentence Reading Fluency (Renamed)
Test 10: Math Facts Fluency (Renamed)
Test 11: Sentence Writing Fluency (Renamed)
Tests of
Achievement
Standard
Battery

29. WJ IV Tests of Achievement
Standard Battery
Brief Achievement---Tests 1 - 3
Tests 1-6 (core tests)
Core clusters:
Reading
Mathematics
Written Language

30. WJ IV Tests of Achievement
Standard Battery
Test: 7 Word Attack
Test :8 Oral Reading
Tests 9 through 11 add measures of
automaticity in reading, math, and writing
and produce the Broad Reading, Broad
Mathematics, and Broad Written Language
clusters.

31. WJ IV Tests of Achievement---Extended Battery
Test 12 Reading Recall--NEW
Test 13 Number Matrices--EXPANDED
Test 14 Editing
Test 15 Word Reading Fluency--NEW
Test 16 Spelling of Sounds
Test 17 Reading Vocabulary--REVISED
Test 18 Science--EXPANDED
Test 19 Social Studies--EXPANDED
Test 20 Humanities--EXPANDED
Provides clusters for
Reading Comprehension,
Reading ComprehensionExtended, Reading Rate,
Math Problem Solving,
Basic Writing Skills, and
Academic Knowledge