Synonyms

WRAT-4

Description

The Wide Range Achievement Test is a widely used academic achievement test battery, originally consisting of subtests measuring single-word reading, written spelling, and written mathematics. The current version also contains a “cloze” test of sentence comprehension, an important addition that addresses a substantive criticism leveled at earlier versions. Word Reading and Sentence Comprehension scores are combined to yield a Reading Composite score. The Math Computation portion is timed (15 min), whereas the Sentence Comprehension, Word Reading and Spelling portions are terminated after 7, 10, and 10 consecutive failures, respectively.

The WRAT-4 was normed on a stratified representative sample of over 3000 individuals of ages 5–94 years. Administration requires 15–25 min for ages 5–7 years and 30–45 min for others. Raw scores are converted to age- and grade-based standard scores; percentiles, stanines, normal curve equivalents, and grade equivalents may be derived as well. Between-subtest differences can be examined for significance. This instrument provides brief coverage of basic academic functions; it is easy to administer and score.

Historical Background

The very early history of the WRAT is unknown (Sarah Jastak, PhD, personal communication, July 27, 2007). Work was initiated by Dr. Joseph Jastak during the 1930s. Dr. Jastak was aware of the Wechsler-Bellevue scales then under development but believed that assessment of cognition should encompass more than intelligence. The first published edition did not appear until 1946. (NB: the WRAT-R Manual refers to a 1936 edition, but no reference is given. The WRAT-4 Manual clarifies the initial publication date.) Revisions appeared in 1984 (WRAT-R), 1993 (WRAT-3), and 2006 (WRAT-4). Later versions offered updated norms, slight changes of content, expanded applicable age ranges, and more sophisticated psychometric data but, surprisingly, provided progressively smaller normative data bases. Although the WRAT-R had two forms to be used with different ages, the WRAT-3 and WRAT-4 consist of two equivalent forms applicable across the entire age spectrum.

Psychometric Data

Median internal consistency reliability for individual WRAT-4 subtests ranges from 0.87 to 0.93. Alternate form reliability (immediate retest) falls between 0.82 and 0.90, and average delayed (1 month) retest reliability is 0.84 for the total sample. The Manual reports a variety of studies demonstrating validity through correlations of WRAT-4 subtests with other related measures of achievement or cognitive skill such as the Woodcock-Johnson III and WAIS-III.

Clinical Uses

The WRAT-4 Manual states that the test offers “… a quick, simple, psychometrically sound assessment of important fundamental academic skills.” The Manual cautions that the WRAT-4 alone cannot identify learning or cognitive disorders but can form part of a broader collection of measures used, in conjunction with historical background and behavioral observations, for this purpose.

WRAT-4 offers brevity at the expense of scope. More comprehensive achievement tests such as the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test and the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement allow evaluation of a broader array of academic skills. Clinicians may prefer the WRAT-4 when achievement testing is a necessary, but not central, part of the purpose of testing – for example, as a component of a broader neuropsychological evaluation. Psychoeducational specialists, however, may gravitate to one of the more specialized and comprehensive achievement batteries.

The Word Reading subtest is often extracted and used as an index of probable premorbid IQ (specifically, verbal IQ) under the assumption that reading is a “robust” skill – that is, resistant to the effects of brain dysfunction. Hence, it could provide a baseline against which to compare current performance in order to infer extent of decline due to (e.g.) traumatic brain injury or dementia. WRAT-3 has also been used successfully to estimate premorbid functioning in persons with schizophrenia (see Harvey et al. 2006).

Although WRAT-4 is, at the time of writing, too new to have generated much research literature, studies using earlier versions of the WRAT have shown that the test adequately serves to provide estimates of premorbid level for those in the middle range of IQ but less so for those at the extremes (see Johnstone and Wilhelm 1995; Karaken et al. 1995). Caution must nonetheless be exercised when using the test in this way, as WRAT-3 reading scores of persons with traumatic brain injury increased upon 1-year retesting, with larger increases for the more severely injured group (Orme et al. 2004). This calls into question the status of the WRAT as a “hold” test, that is, one that is relatively immune to the impact of brain dysfunction. More recently developed word reading measures such as the NART, AMNART, and WTAR appear to be favored among clinicians and researchers.

Cross-References