Difference between the WISC and Woodcock Johnson Test
By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D
Q:
What is the difference between (WISC) and Woodcock Johnson Test (WJ)?
A: Let me brief you with some
details of each of the test in general.
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is an
intelligence test for children between the ages of six and
16 inclusive. This test can be completed without reading or
writing. The WISC would generate an IQ score (the average
score being 100). Apart from generating an IQ score, some
practitioners also tend to use it to diagnose
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning
disabilities; though to diagnose disorders it is best to use
a battery of tests. The WISC is also used to assess a
childˇ¦s cognitive development based on the childˇ¦s
chronological age. This contributes information concerning a
childˇ¦s developmental and psychological well-being.
As for the Woodcock-Johnson (WJ) Test, there are two types
administered to children from age two up to the oldest
adults (with norms utilizing individuals in their 90s). The
WJ Tests of achievement is an achievement measure (test of
developed skill or knowledge) used in educational diagnosis.
It tells us how well a student is performing in traditional
academic areas when compared to hundreds of other students.
The WJ-III Achievement Test is probably the most often
recommended individual achievement test for gifted children,
due to its high ceiling. The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of
Cognitive Abilities correlates well with IQ tests and can be
used in place of the WISC test since the test similar
skills. It is also known to cover a wide variety of
cognitive skills. Apparently, these two different WJ tests
were developed to enable a tester to efficiently look for
gaps between intelligence and achievement.
Both are well known test, one is an IQ test, the other an
achievement measure. Research has indicated that the
Woodcock-Johnson indices proved to correlate a better with
achievement compared to the WISC. It was also found that
learning disabled students performed more poorly on the WJ
Tests of Cognitive Abilities than on the WISC-R. The
question most people ask is that is one better than the
other?
Test developers claim that correlations between ability test
scores are generally high; which means, any one can be used
to determine general ability. However, there are many cases
whereby children score higher on one compared to the other.
The main reasons are, firstly, different tests measure
different aspects of the same ability. Secondly, each test
is normed on a different group of students and thirdly,
errors of measurement do occur.
Hope that helps your understanding a little.
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