Purpose: Designed to "measure the codes which are needed to learn the basic skills of reading, spelling, and arithmetic."

Population: Ages 5-0 to 11-11, 12-0 to 75.

Score: 3 scores: Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic.

Time: (15-30) minutes.

Authors: Sarah Jastak, Gary S. Wilkinson, and Joseph Jastak.

Publisher: Jastak Associates, Inc.

Description: The Wide Range Achievement Test--Revised (WRAT-R) is the sixth edition of the popular test that was first published in 1936. Like the earlier versions, the WRAT-R contains three subtests: Reading (recognizing and naming letters and words), Spelling (writing symbols, name, and words), and Arithmetic (solving oral problems and written computations). The authors of the WRAT-R stress that the test is designed to measure basic school codes rather than comprehension, reasoning, and judgement processes.

Scoring: The manual contains information to transform the raw scores into standard scores.

Reliability: The Rasch analysis provided person-separation and item-separation values and these are given as evidence of internal consistency. Traditional internal-consistency data, such as split-half or alpha coefficients, are not provided and are needed. Test-retest reliability coefficients range from .79 (Level 2 Arithmetic) to .97 (Level 1 Spelling), but no indication of the time interval between test and retest is given and the coefficients are based on small samples for only a few age groups in the schoolage range.

Validity: WRAT-R subtests have moderately high correlations with Woodcock-Johnson achievement subtests. The manual supplies two sources of evidence for construct validity: person and item-separation values and increasing raw scores with age. The manual reports very high correlations (i.e., .91 to .99) between the WRAT and WRAT-R, but the correlations were calculated using the WRAT-R norm sample and an "arbitrary" sample of previously administered WRATs. It appears that the correlations are not based on a sample of subjects who took both tests. Spruill and Beck found WRAT/WRAT-R correlations of .98, .97, and .71 for the Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic subtests, respectively.

Norms: A stratified national sampling plan was used for the standardization of the WRAT-R. A total of 5,600 subjects, or 200 subjects in each of 28 age groups from 5 to 74 years, composed the sample. Stratification variables included age, sex, race, geographical region, and metropolitan versus nonmetropolitan residence.

Suggested Uses: General uses for the test described in the manual include comparing achievement of one person to another, determining learning ability or learning disability, comparing codes with comprehension in order to prescribe remedial programs, and informally assessing error patterns to plan instructional programs.