How to Score the WJ-III Tests of Achievement

The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement: Third Edition (WJ-III) is a standardized measurement of an individual's current levels of academic knowledge. The WJ-III measures multiple areas achievement, including reading, mathematics, written language, listening comprehension and oral language. While administering the subtests, the WJ-III allows the examiner to quickly calculate an individual's age and grade levels using the raw scores. Overall, scoring the protocols is an easy task to accomplish, as the WJ-III scores are calculated with Compuscore software, which is included in the assessment kit.

Add the raw scores for each administered section of the WJ-III. The raw score is usually the total number of correct responses for each subtest. For example, if a student correctly read 13 words on Letter-Word Identification, his raw score is 13. However, some subtests have different scoring rules. For example, on the Reading Fluency section, the raw score is calculated by subtracting the number of incorrect answers from the number of correct. Therefore, read the rules for each section carefully before finding the scores.

Install the scoring software o nto your computer by inserting the Compuscore disk and following the step-by-step instructions. Depending on your computer's speed, this should only take a few minutes.

Enter the student's demographic information in the proper spaces on the Compuscore program. Important information includes the student's name, birthday and grade. These must be entered to derive the correct standard scores, percentiles and age/grade equivalents. Once the demographic information is entered into the program, you will be ready to input the raw scores.

Input the raw scores into the proper boxes. Each subtest has a corresponding number on the protocol. In the program, you will notice that, instead of labeling the input boxes with subtest names, the software simply uses the subtest numbers. Make sure to put the scores into the correct places.

Hit the save button to keep the inputted data. At the top of the program screen is a menu bar. Click on the "Score" button. A document will open containing the converted raw scores. Some of the scored data includes standard scores, percentile ranks, age/grade equivalents and stanines.