The Effects of Order on the Administration of WRAT Subtests

Abstract

The Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) was administered to two groups of learning disabled in a summer remedial program. The 39 boys and 15 girls ranged in age from 84 months to 183 months and upcoming fall grade placemenys ranged from 1.0 to 9.0. The students were matched on age and randomly assigned to groups. The subtest administration order varied for each group; the Reading and Spelling subtests served as the dependent variables while the Arithmetic subtest served as the dependent variables while the Arithmetic subtest remained constant. Although order of administration has been found to be a factor in test performance (Creekmore & Graham, 1981; Ward, 1973), the results of the Current study indicate that, for this sample of learning disabled students, varying the order of the language arts subtests did not significantly affect performance.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bookout, D. , & Hasford, R. (1969). Administration effects on the S-329 of the GATB using three experimental treatments. Journal of Employment Counseling, 6, 124-133.

Creekmore, W. , & Graham, S. (1981). The effects of test order on test performance . Diagnostique, 6(2), 40-41.

Flynn, J. , & Anderson, B. (1976). The effect of test administration procedures on achievement test performance. Journal of Negro Education, 45(1), 37-45.

Jastak, J. , & Jastak, S. (1978). The Wide Range Achievement Test: Manual of instructions . Wilmington, DE: Jastak Associates .

Lombardi, T. , & Riedel, R. (1978). An analysis of the factor structure of the WISC-R and the effects of color on the coding subtest. Psychology in the Schools, 15(2), 176-179.

Neuger, G. , O'Leary, D. , Fishburne, F. , Barth, J. , Berent, S. , Giordani, B. , & Boll, T. (1981). Order effects on the Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological test battery and allied procedures. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 722-730.

Paradis, E. , & Peterson, J. (1977). Effects of order for the administration of subtests on standardized reading test scores. Paper presented at the Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference, New Orleans.

Sattler, J. (1969). Effects of cues and examiner influence on two Wechsler subtests. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 33, 716-721.

Ward, S.E. (1973). Order effects on selected perceptual motor tests . American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 27, 321-325.