SPED 510: Dr. Julie Esparza Brown
WIAT-III Written Expression Composite Assignment
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SPED 510: WIAT-III
Written Expression Composite
(50 points, 20 points extra credit for EL student)
The WIAT-III is an individually administered clinical instrument designed to measure the achievement of students who are in grades
Pre-K through age 50. It consists of 16 subtests used to evaluate listening, speaking, reading, writing, and mathematics skills. The WIAT-
III yields eight composite scores:
1.
Oral Language
2.
Total Reading
3.
Basic Reading
4.
Reading Comprehension and Fluency
5.
Written Expression
6.
Mathematics
7.
Math Fluency
8.
Total Achievement
Assignment: You are to administer (to school-aged child): (1) Sentence
Composition (includes Sentence Combining and Sentence Building), and
(2) Essay Composition.
Extra Credit: 20 points extra credit will be given if Written Expression subtests are administered to an English Learner student.
Materials: WIAT-III Response Booklet
Two pencils without erasers
Sentence Combination Description
The Sentence Composition subtest includes the Sentence Combining and
Sentence Building components, which measure sentence formulation skills, including the use of morphology, grammar, syntax, semantics, and mechanics. Each Sentence Combining item requires the student to listen and follow along as the (two or three) target sentences are read aloud, and then write one complete sentence that includes all essential information from the target sentences and means the same thing. Each
Sentence Building item requires the student to listen and follow along as a target word is read aloud, and then write one complete sentence that uses the target word correctly with appropriate context.
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SPED 510: Dr. Julie Esparza Brown
WIAT-III Written Expression Composite Assignment
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Essay Composition
The Essay Composition subtest measures spontaneous written expression in response to a prompt under timed conditions. The student is asked to listen to the instructions for writing the essay; to listen and follow along as the examiner reads the essay prompt aloud; and then to plan, write, and finalize an essay within a l0-minute time limit.
The subtest measures written expression productivity, theme development, test organization, grammar, and mechanics. The Essay
Composition subtest yields a standard score that measures Content and
Organization, which is based upon two scores: Word Count, and Theme
Development and Text Organization. The Essay Composition subtest also yields a supplemental standard score for measuring Grammar and
Mechanics. To enable examiners to more specifically evaluate the student’s content and organization skills, separate standard scores are also provided for Word Count and for Theme Development and Text
Organization (for qualitative use only).
Providing separate scores for Content and Organization and for
Grammar and Mechanics allows examiners to spend time scoring only those areas of interest or concern and enables more specific identification of strengths and weaknesses. When selecting which scores to obtain, consider that the Content and Organization score is necessary to obtain the Written Expression composite score and the Total
Achievement composite score for grades 3 – 12.
Scoring
We will practice scoring your samples in class.
Source: WIAT-III Examiner’s Manual
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