Educational Report Writing

Excerpts of this page are from Pierangelo, R. & Giuliani, G. (2005) Assessment in Special Education: A Practical Approach (2nd edition). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon 

Many different professionals may provide input in the assessment of a child with a suspected disability. When this occurs, a comprehensive report based on the findings must be written. The purpose of this report is to communicate results in such a way that the reader will understand the rationale behind the recommendations, and will be able to use the recommendations as practical guidelines for intervention. This report may be presented to the parent, sent to an outside doctor or agency, or presented to the Eligibility Committee. In any case, the report needs to be professional, comprehensive, and practical.

Writing a good report is a real skill. The fact is, all the wonderful data collection becomes useless if it cannot be interpreted and explained in a clear and concise manner. For example, being too general or explaining results poorly creates many problems and confusion for readers. Also, citing numerous general recommendations will not be practical for the school, professional, or parents. Writing a report that contains jargon that no one other than you understands is also useless. Completing an extremely lengthy report in an attempt to be too comprehensive will result only in losing your reader. As you review each section in this chapter, you may wish to refer to the example reports we have provided.

Practical Guidelines for Report Writing

When writing a report, the key is to be as comprehensive as possible while being clear and concise. To do this effectively, it is important to understand some very practical guidelines. Listed below are some practical guidelines to follow when writing an educational report.

Write the report in the third person using phrases such as:

• According to the examiner
• It was felt that
• There seems to be
• It is the professional opinion of this evaluator that

Never write “I think” or “If it were up to me” This is not a term paper but, rather, a legal document. As such, the professional approach is to remain in the third person.

Single space your report to condense the length.

A report of three to five pages is not overwhelming. There are several ideas suggested throughout this chapter that can break up the report so that the format is very easy on the reader.

In general, try to separate your recommendation section into three parts:

The three parts should be recommendations to:

• The school
• The professional
• The parents

This approach will make it easy to follow the recommendations and allow those interested parties to see their responsibilities.

Try to write the report in the past tense as often as possible.

Because the data were already collected, and you have done the assessment, the use of the past tense is most appropriate. For example:

•  On the Reading subtest, Billy scored in the 95th percentile.
• During testing, Sally exhibited shyness.
•  Throughout the interview, Tommy showed no signs of hyperactivity.
• Sally appeared to lack confidence when doing tasks thatrequired hand–eye coordination.

Always separate sections (e.g., Reason for Referral and Background History) by skipping two lines. This is done simply for purposes of clarity.

Underline, bold, or italicize paragraph headings so that they stand out and are easy to locate.

Anytime you create a new section in your report, underline it so that the reader knows that this starts a different area of the report.

Write reports using complete sentences.

 A report should never read like a telegram. Be sure all sentences make sense. Always check spelling and grammar to make sure there are no errors. Nothing is more unprofessional than a report that looks sloppy and has many mistakes.

Criteria for Writing a Comprehensive Report

Now that you have some practial guidelines to follow, let us take a comprehensive look at each specific section. Reports can be written in many ways, and report format is decided by the personal choice of the examiner, the supervisor, or the district. However, it is important not to overlook certain information. What follows is one suggested outline and steps that would meet all the criteria for a professional and comprehensive report.

STEP I  Identifying Data

The first section is called Identifying Data and contains all the necessary basic information about the child. This section is important to the reader, especially if further contact is required. It allows the reader to have all the basic information in one place. The parts of this section include:

Name:                                                   Parents’ Names:

Address:                                                Teacher:

Phone:                                                   Referred By:

Date of Birth:                                          Date/s of Testing:

Grade:                                                    Date of Report:

School:                                                    Examiner:

Chronological Age at Time of Testing (CA):

For example, in a model report, the first section might be completed as follows:

Name: Sally Jones                               Parents’ Names: Paul and Mary Jones

Address: 123 ABC Street                      Teacher: Mrs. Johnson

         ABC City, New York 10007

Phone: (516) 555-5555                       Referred By: Mother

Date of Birth: 8-17-92                         Date/s of Testing: 9-17-01, 9-18-01

Grade: 4                                             Date of Report: 9-25-01

School: XYZ Elementary School               Examiner: Ms. Jane Doe, M.S.

Chronological Age at Time of Testing (CA): 9-1

Although most of this information is usually found in the school records, having it all in one place saves time. Make sure that the date/s of testing and the date of the report are always included for comparisons. Some evaluations are finished several months before the report is typed, and the scores can be misleading if the reader assumes that they represent the child’s present levels on the date of the report when they may really be reflective of ability levels in prior months. It is always more acceptable when the two dates are within one month of each other. Also keep in mind that the chronological age, CA, is at the time of initial testing and is presented in years and months, for example, 12-6 .

STEP II.  Reason for Referral

The second section is called Reason for Referral, and explains to the reader the specific reasons why this evaluation is taking place. It should not be longer than two to three sentences, but should be comprehensive enough to clarify the purpose. The following are some examples of this section:

Reason for Referral

• Jarmel was referred by his professional for an evaluation as a result of inconsistent academic performance and poor social skills.
• Mary was referred by her parents for an evaluation in order to determine if a learning disability was interfering with her ability to learn.
•  Benjamin is being tested as part of the triennial evaluation.
• Matthew is being screened for a suspected disability.
• Sally was referred by the child study team in order to determine his present intellectual, academic, and perceptual levels.

This section should not contain a great deal of parent or professional information. There may be a tendency here to bring in other information to substantiate the reason for the evaluation. Avoid this, and keep it short and to the point. Substantiation for this referral is part of another section that offers a more detailed explanation of the child.

STEP III.  Background History

The next section is called Background History, and contains a very thorough description of the child’s family history, developmental history, academic history, and social history (refer to the parent intake form in Chapter 7).

This general section is very comprehensive and establishes a foundation for what will follow. If you suspect a disability that may have historical features, then you need to present the development of this disability and its interfering factors in depth. The reader should come away from the section seeing the substantiation for a suspected disability. Certain areas should always be covered in the Background History section. These include:

A.  Family History

A family history provides the reader with a general understanding of the family structure, siblings, parental perceptions, and so on. Examples of sentences that would appear in this section include the following:

• Billy lives at home with his mother and a younger brother, Tommy. His parents are divorced and Billy has no contact with his father.
• Sally lives at home with her father, mother, and two older sisters.
• Saly is an only child who was adopted at the age of six months by her parents, Ted and Jane. She knows that she is adopted and has never had any contact with her biological parents.

B.      Developmental History.  

The purpose of a developmental history is to give the reader any relevant background history pertaining to developmental milestones. This section need not read like a hospital report but should contain the basic developmental history. Examples of sentences that would appear in this section include the following:

• All of Billy’s developmental milestones were reached in the normal limits.
• Sally started to talk only at 2 years of age and received early intervention to help her with language ability.
• Sally had many ear infections during the first year of life and needed tubes put in when he was 13 months of age.
• Sally started to walk later than the norms, as she started at 21 months of age.

C.  Academic History 

An academic history section provides the reader with relevant academic performance during the child’s school years. If you suspect a learning disability, then the academic section must be extensive. Trace the child’s educational performance as far back as possible and establish the consistency of the pattern to the reader. Include all pertinent academic information such as past professional comments, grades, attendance, group scores, and the like; and lead the reader grade by grade in establishing a pattern of concern or a pattern that may rule out a specific type of suspected disability. Example sentences used in this section might read as follows:

• Sally has always done poorly in math and has never received a grade of higher than C in this subject throughout his educational career.
• Sally’s first-grade professional reported that she had great difficulty in the area of spelling.
• Sally’s Reading scores on the ABC National Standardized Test were well below the norm (8th Percentile) when he took it two years ago in the fourth grade.

D.  Social History

  

A social history provides the reader with an understanding of the child in his social world. Group participation, organizations, hobbies, interests, interaction with peers, social style, and so forth should all be discussed. Examples of sentences that would appear in this section include the following:

• According to Billy, he enjoys playing baseball and hanging out with his friends at the mall.
• Sally reported that she has no friends and does not participate in any extracurricular activities.
• Teddy is the eleventh-grade class president of his school and plays on the junior varsity basketball and varsity baseball teams.

When the Background History section is complete, it should provide the reader with a clear understanding of the child and his or her world at the present time.

STEP IV:  Behavioral Observations

The fourth section is called Behavioral Observations and includes a description of the child’s behavior during the testing sessions. This can be a very important section because it may reinforce what is seen in the class or be very different, in which case the structure of the testing environment should be explored for clues to learning style. Here, for the first time, you are providing the reader with your professional and firsthand observation of this child in a controlled setting. This type of structure provides a great deal of valuable information that may be later transferred to recommendations about the way in which the child learns best. Examples of sentences that would appear in this section include the following:

• Sally approached the testing situation in a reluctant and hesitant manner.
• During testing, it was evident that Sally was frustrated with many of the reading tasks.
• Throughout the assessment, Sally appeared anxious and nervous, as she was biting her nails and always asking whether her answers were correct.

STEP V:  Tests and Procedures Administered

The next section is called Tests and Procedures Administered. This includes a simple list of the individual tests included in the test battery and any procedures used to enhance the report, such as classroom observation, review of records, and parent intake. Do not utilize abbreviations when referring to test names. You may want to add them after the name of each specific test, for example, Wide Range Achievement Test—3rd Edition (WRAT-3). No further explanation is required here other than a list. This section will vary depending upon the professional doing the evaluation. For example, the educational evaluator’s list of tests and procedures administered may look like this:

• Wechsler Individual Achievement Test—2nd Edition (WIAT-2)
• Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitudes—4th Edition (DTLA-4)
•  Gray Oral Reading Test—4rd Edition (GORT-4)
• Classroom observation
• Interview with child
• Parent interview
• Teacher conferences
• Review of cumulative records

STEP VI.  Test Results

The sixth section, Test Results, is a crucial one because it analyzes the results of each test and looks at the child’s individual performance on each measure. There are several approaches to this section, but the two most widely used approaches are the test by test analysis and the content area by content area analysis. The approach chosen is the personal choice and preference of the examiner.

A test by test approach separately analyzes the child’s performance on each test. It analyzes the results of the different subtests and provides indications of strengths and weaknesses, manner of approach, and indications of whether the scores on the specific test should be considered valid. In this section, the first paragraph of each test analyzed usually contains all the basic score information provided by that specific test: grade levels, age levels, percentiles, stanines; and ranges. It should not contain raw scores or other statistical information that has no meaning to the reader. The next several paragraphs under each test normally describe the subtest performance, patterns, strengths and weaknesses, and child’s style in handling the task. Information on whether the scores should be considered a valid indicator is provided. For example, if a child refuses to do more than two problems and receives a low score, it is important to inform the reader that that score may be misleading and may not reflect the child’s true ability due to giving up or a willingness to venture a guess.

A content area by content areaapproach takes all the reading, math, spelling, writing, visual, auditory, and motor tests from each evaluation measure and analyzes the results separately by content area. The examiner analyzes each content area in hopes of establishing patterns of strengths and weaknesses. For example, deficient scores on all tests of reading comprehension may establish a pattern of disability, especially if they are discrepant from the child’s ability levels. However, extremely high scores on some tests of comprehension and low scores on others need to be explained to the reader.

Here are the key steps that you want to follow in the Test Results section we will go through this set by step-***Italicized writing indicates the new information in a particular step):

Step 1 for Writing Test Results:  Write out the Name of the Test

§         Wechsler Individualized Achievement Test, 2^nd edition

Step 2 for Writing Test Results:  Create a Table (Standard Score, Classification, and Percentile)

Name of Subtest           Standard Score     Classification                 Percentile Rank

Word Reading                    85                 Low Average                          16

Numerical Operations         135                Very Superior                         99

Spelling                            110                High Average                         75

Reading Comprehension       70               Well Below Average                 2

Step 3 for Writing Test Results:    Write a brief a brief 1-2 sentence statement about what each subtest measures (This is obtained through the Examiner’s Manual)

• The Word Reading subtest of the WIAT-II presents a series of pictures and printed words for assessing decoding and word-reading ability.  Only the accuracy of the pronunciation is scored; not comprehension. 
• The Numerical Operations subtest of the WIAT-II consists of a series of problems with pencil and paper for assessing the ability to reason mathematically. 
• The Spelling subtest of the WIAT-II requires the student to spell a target word based on its meaning in a sentence. 
• The Reading Comprehension subtest of the WIAT-II presents stories for the student to read.  The student is then asked a question about the story orally, to which she must orally respond with an answer. 

Step 4 for Writing Test Results: Report the student’s standard score, classification, and percentile for each subtest.  You are reiterating what is stated on the table.

The Word Reading subtest of the WIAT-II presents a series of pictures and printed words for assessing decoding and word-reading ability.  Only the accuracy of the pronunciation is scored; not comprehension. 

On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Low Average range, earning a standard score of 85.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 16, Sally performed as well or better than 16 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.

The Numerical Operations subtest of the WIAT-II consists of a series of problems with pencil and paper for assessing the ability to reason mathematically. 

On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Very Superior range, earning a standard score of 135.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 99, Sally performed as well or better than 99 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.

The Spelling subtest of the WIAT-II requires the student to spell a target word based on its meaning in a sentence. 

On this subtest, Sally performance was in the High Average range, earning a standard score of 110.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 75, Sally performed as well or better than 75 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.

The Reading Comprehension subtest of the WIAT-II presents stories for the student to read.  The student is then asked a question about the story orally, to which she must orally respond with an answer. 

On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Well Below Average range, earning a standard score of 70.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 2, Sally performed as well or better than 2 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.

Step 5 for Writing Test Results:   Finally, make a statement regarding something to note about the student’s performance on each subtest.  This could include statements such as:

The Word Reading subtest of the WIAT-II presents a series of pictures and printed words for assessing decoding and word-reading ability.  Only the accuracy of the pronunciation is scored; not comprehension.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Low Average range, earning a standard score of 85.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 16, Sally performed as well or better than 16 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age. 

An analysis of Sally’s errors indicated that she often added and omitted syllables when reading words.  Her reading speed was slow, and self-corrected herself on five different words.  An analysis of Sally’s errors indicated that she often added and omitted syllables when reading words.  Her reading speed was slow and she self-corrected herself on five different words.

The Numerical Operations subtest of the WIAT-II consists of a series of problems with pencil and paper for assessing the ability to reason mathematically.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Very Superior range, earning a standard score of 135.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 99, Sally performed as well or better than 99 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age. 

Sally’s shows a strong ability with mathematical problems. On the only two division errors that she made, her errors were due to simple miscalculations that had more to do with carelessness and rushing rather than anything else.  Her scores represent a normative strength for her. 

The Spelling subtest of the WIAT-II requires the student to spell a target word based on its meaning in a sentence.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the High Average range, earning a standard score of 110.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 75, Sally performed as well or better than 75 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age. 

Analysis of Sally’s errors reveals that she most often either added a single letter or omitted a single letter when misspelling words.  The majority of errors were made toward the end of the subtest as the items increased in level of difficulty  

The Reading Comprehension subtest of the WIAT-II presents stories for the student to read.  The student is then asked a question about the story orally, to which she must orally respond with an answer.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Well Below Average range, earning a standard score of 70.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 2, Sally performed as well or better than 2 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age. 

Sally made numerous errors on items that involved the skill of drawing conclusions and making inferences.  She had difficulty recognizing stated detail, predicting events and outcomes, and identifying the main ideas of passages.  As compared to Sally’s achievement on other subtests on the WIAT-II, her standard score of 70 on the Reading Comprehension subtest represents a relative weakness for her.

MODEL TEST RESULTS SECTION

Test Results:

Name of Subtest           Standard Score     Classification               Percentile Rank

Word Reading                 85                  Low Average                           16

Numerical Operations      135                 Very Superior                           99

Spelling                         110                 High Average                           75

Reading Comprehension  70                  Well Below Average                   2

The Word Reading subtest of the WIAT-II presents a series of pictures and printed words for assessing decoding and word-reading ability.  Only the accuracy of the pronunciation is scored; not comprehension.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Low Average range, earning a standard score of 85.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 16, Sally performed as well or better than 16 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.  An analysis of Sally’s errors indicated that she often added and omitted syllables when reading words.  Her reading speed was slow, and she self-corrected herself on five different words. 

The Numerical Operations subtest of the WIAT-II consists of a series of problems with pencil and paper for assessing the ability to reason mathematically.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Very Superior range, earning a standard score of 135.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 99, Sally performed as well or better than 99 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.  Sally’s shows a strong ability with mathematical problems. On the only two division errors that she made, her errors were due to simple miscalculations that had more to do with carelessness and rushing rather than anything else.  Her scores represent a normative strength for her. 

The Spelling subtest of the WIAT-II requires the student to spell a target word based on its meaning in a sentence.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the High Average range, earning a standard score of 110.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 75, Sally performed as well or better than 75 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.  Analysis of Sally’s errors reveals that she most often either added a single letter or omitted a single letter when misspelling words.  The majority of errors were made toward the end of the subtest as the items increased in level of difficulty   

The Reading Comprehension subtest of the WIAT-II presents stories for the student to read.  The student is then asked a question about the story orally, to which she must orally respond with an answer.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Well Below Average range, earning a standard score of 70.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 2, Sally performed as well or better than 2 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.  Sally made numerous errors on items that involved the skill of drawing conclusions and making inferences.  She had difficulty recognizing stated detail, predicting events and outcomes, and identifying the main ideas of passages.  As compared to Sally’s achievement on other subtests on the WIAT-II, her standard score of 70 on the Reading Comprehension subtest represents a relative weakness for her.

STEP VII:  Conclusions

The Conclusions section is probably the essence of the report. Here the examiner explains in very simple terms to the reader the trends in the child’s testing results that may indicate academic strengths and weaknesses, modality strengths and weaknesses, process strengths and weaknesses, and overall diagnosis and level of severity of the problems areas indicated. It is not a restatement of the test results section but a summary of overall performance.

State name of student, age, and grade and the reason for referral

Sally Jones is a thirteen-year-old seventh grade girl who was administered the WIAT-II for the purposes of assessing her academic achievement.

Next sentence discuss strengths

Sally Jones is a thirteen-year-old seventh grade girl who was administered the WIAT-II for the purposes of assessing her academic achievement. 

The areas of spelling and mathematics (numerical operations) appear to be Sally’s greatest strengths.

Next few sentences discuss weaknesses

Sally Jones is a thirteen-year-old seventh grade girl who was administered the WIAT-II for the purposes of assessing her academic achievement.  The areas of spelling and mathematics (numerical operations) appear to be Sally’s greatest strengths. 

Sally appears to have difficulties in both reading and reading comprehension.  Sally made numerous errors on items that involved the skill of drawing conclusions and making inferences.  She had difficulty recognizing stated detail, predicting events and outcomes, and identifying the main ideas of passages.  Furthermore, Sally often added and omitted syllables when reading words.  Her reading speed was slow and she self-corrected herself on five different words.

Add a sentence or 2 about behavior

Sally Jones is a thirteen-year-old seventh grade girl who was administered the WIAT-II for the purposes of assessing her academic achievement.  The areas of spelling and mathematics (numerical operations) appear to be Sally’s greatest strengths.  Sally appears to have difficulties in both reading and reading comprehension.  Sally made numerous errors on items that involved the skill of drawing conclusions and making inferences.  She had difficulty recognizing stated detail, predicting events and outcomes, and identifying the main ideas of passages.  Furthermore, Sally often added and omitted syllables when reading words.  Her reading speed was slow and she self-corrected herself on five different words. 

Sally appears to be lacking academic self-confidence.  She is frustrated by school and has difficulty making friends

Model Conclusion

Sally Jones is a thirteen-year-old seventh grade girl who was administered the WIAT-II for the purposes of assessing her academic achievement.  The areas of spelling and mathematics (numerical operations) appear to be Sally’s greatest strengths.  Sally appears to have difficulties in both reading and reading comprehension.  Sally made numerous errors on items that involved the skill of drawing conclusions and making inferences.  She had difficulty recognizing stated detail, predicting events and outcomes, and identifying the main ideas of passages.  Furthermore, Sally often added and omitted syllables when reading words.  Sally appears to be lacking academic self-confidence.  She is frustrated by school and has difficulty making friends.

STEP VIII:  Recommendations

The last section of the report is probably the most valuable section for the reader—Recommendations. It should contain practical recommendations that will bring some hope and direction for the identified problem areas. Keep in mind that the recommendations should be practical enough and explained in such a way that the reader will have no problem following through. For example, a recommendation to a parent of “Try to spend more time with Jarmel” is useless. It provides the reader with no direction or specifics. Instead, a recommendation such as “Read at home with Jarmel in unison. By this, we mean that both you and Jarmel have the same book and read aloud together so that he receives constant auditory feedback.” This more detailed recommendation provides the reader with specific direction.

Try to separate the recommendations into the following three sections:

 1.  Recommendations to the school: This section might contain suggestions such as further testing from other professionals on staff, vision or hearing tests by the school nurse, recommendation for a review by the Eligibility Committee, remedial reading assistance, or an ESL evaluation.

 2.  Recommendations to the professional: This section should contain useful information for the professional including an indication of the conditions under which the child learns best. The professional is probably mainly interested in “What do I do to help the child learn?” Keep in mind that even before you begin the evaluation process, you should ask the professional what he or she has already tried in an attempt to alleviate the problems. This should be done so that your recommendations do not include suggestions already attempted by the professional. Doing this will avoid having your recommendations being viewed as “nothing I haven’t already tried before.”

 3.  Recommendations to the parent: This part should be very practical, direct, and diplomatic. The suggestions should also be inclusive enough to answer the questions “why” and “how” so that parents do not have to interpret them.

Finally, each subsection should contain recommendations in priority order. Try to number each recommendation separately for purposes of clarity. For examples of recommendations to the school, parents, and professionals, see the model report at the end of this chapter.

MODEL REPORT

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

Psychological Assessment for Sally Jones

IDENTIFYING DATA

Name: Sally Jones                                                Birthdate: 6-17-92                       

Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jones                           Age: 11-11

Address: 123 ABC Dr., Anytown, NY 1234                 Phone: 555-123-1234

School: Anytown Middle School                                Grade: 6

Assessment Date: June 4, 11, and 12, 2004

Psychologist: Sandra Smith, M.A., Educational Examiner

Reason for Referral

Sally was referred for testing by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jones, due to serious concerns about her academic performance in the 6th grade.

Background Information

Sally Jones is currently enrolled in the 6th grade at XYZ Middle School and is in all regular education classes. She is the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are very active in Sally’s education. They are very dedicated and concerned parents and will do anything for their daughter. They keep in constant contact with XYZ Middle School to check on Sally’s progress.

Sally’s father, Fred, is an electrical engineer and her mother, Betsy, works part-time as a dental assistant. They live at home with their two other children, Bobby, age 17 and Katie, age 14.

Sally is currently on the borderline of failing all her classes. She admits that she needs to try harder and does not complete her assignments. However, she also reports that many times she has trouble remembering what to do or what needs to be done.

At present, Sally appears to enjoy hanging out with friends, watching television (her favorite shows are Survivor and the TGIF shows on Friday night on WABC) and going online. According to Sally, her strongest subjects in school are Science and Math. Her greatest difficulties are in English (Reading) and Social Studies (understanding what she reads). She reported that she has a lot of trouble with spelling.  Sally knows that she has to try harder in school. She feels as though she is a failure in so many areas.               

Sally seems to make friends quite easily but has a tendency to be dramatic. She will often thrive on crises and make big issues out of situations which can be solved with a more solution-oriented approach.

BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS

Sally approached the testing situation in a very cooperative and friendly manner. Sally was quite polite and kind, and rapport with the examiner was easily established. She was evidently very nervous throughout testing because she felt as though this was a stupid test and that her being left back was riding on these tests. Although the examiner assured her that this was not the case, she was easily frustrated and visibly upset whenever she knew that she got an answer wrong.

During testing, Sally’s attention and effort were very good. However, there were points where repetition and emphasis were needed. When new tasks or new instructions were presented, there was no difficulty adjusting or responding appropriately. However, it is very important to note that Sally had great difficulty with multidirectional tasks. She had problems organizing many tasks into separate components. She also reported that in school, she does have trouble doing this often causing her to forget to do assignments, projects, or prepare for quizzes or exams.

Given the above stated information, it is believed that the present scores should be viewed as adequately representing Sally’s ability and level of achievement. However, all of Sally’s score may be higher than presented due to anxiety levels and concerns about doing well.

Test and Procedures Administered

• Wechsler Individualized Achievement Test 2nd ed. (WIAT-2)
• Review of Cumulative Records and Previous Assessments
• Clinical Interview
• Behavioral Observations

TEST RESULTS

Academic Achievement

Name of Subtest           Standard Score     Classification               Percentile Rank

Word Reading               85                   Low Average                       16

Numerical Operations    135                  Very Superior                      99

Spelling                         110                High Average                      75

Reading Comprehension  70                 Well Below Average                2

The Word Reading subtest of the WIAT-II presents a series of pictures and printed words for assessing decoding and word-reading ability.  Only the accuracy of the pronunciation is scored; not comprehension.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Low Average range, earning a standard score of 85.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 16, Sally performed as well or better than 16 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.  An analysis of Sally’s errors indicated that she often added and omitted syllables when reading words.  Her reading speed was slow, and she self-corrected herself on five different words. 

The Numerical Operations subtest of the WIAT-II consists of a series of problems with pencil and paper for assessing the ability to reason mathematically.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Very Superior range, earning a standard score of 135.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 99, Sally performed as well or better than 99 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.  Sally’s shows a strong ability with mathematical problems. On the only two division errors that she made, her errors were due to simple miscalculations that had more to do with carelessness and rushing rather than anything else.  Her scores represent a normative strength for her. 

The Spelling subtest of the WIAT-II requires the student to spell a target word based on its meaning in a sentence.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the High Average range, earning a standard score of 110.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 75, Sally performed as well or better than 75 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.  Analysis of Sally’s errors reveals that she most often either added a single letter or omitted a single letter when misspelling words.  The majority of errors were made toward the end of the subtest as the items increased in level of difficulty  

The Reading Comprehension subtest of the WIAT-II presents stories for the student to read.  The student is then asked a question about the story orally, to which she must orally respond with an answer.  On this subtest, Sally performance was in the Well Below Average range, earning a standard score of 70.  As indicated by her percentile rank of 2, Sally performed as well or better than 2 percent of all students when compared to the norms for her age.  Sally made numerous errors on items that involved the skill of drawing conclusions and making inferences.  She had difficulty recognizing stated detail, predicting events and outcomes, and identifying the main ideas of passages.  As compared to Sally’s achievement on other subtests on the WIAT-II, her standard score of 70 on the Reading Comprehension subtest represents a relative weakness for her.

Conclusions

Sally Jones is a 11-year-old sixth grade girl who was administered the WIAT-II for the purposes of assessing her academic achievement.  The areas of spelling and mathematics (numerical operations) appear to be Sally’s greatest strengths.  Sally appears to have difficulties in both reading and reading comprehension.  Sally made numerous errors on items that involved the skill of drawing conclusions and making inferences.  She had difficulty recognizing stated detail, predicting events and outcomes, and identifying the main ideas of passages.  Furthermore, Sally often added and omitted syllables when reading words.  Sally appears to be lacking academic self-confidence.  She is frustrated by school and has difficulty making friends.

Recommendations to the Teachers and School

1.  Help Sally with her organizational skills by speaking to her professionals about her difficulties in organization.

2.  Make sure all of Sally’s professionals understand her disability. All professionals should be aware of where Sally’s limitations lie and do whatever is necessary to help her.

3.  Do not count spelling errors when giving Sally a grade on a project. Instead, allow Sally to fix her mistakes at home so that she can resubmit her work without penalty.

4.  To further develop feelings of success, always design spelling problems in ascending order of difficulty.

5.  Ask Sally if she understands what she has read. The fact that she has read a passage or story does not mean that she comprehends her reading.

6.  Be aware that Sally has problems processing information. Therefore, allow her time to respond that is sufficient for her.

7.  Maintain constant contact with Sally’s parents to update them on her progress.

8.  Provide Sally with a high degree of structure, and clearly explain your expectations to her.

Recommendations to Sally’s Parents

1.  Be patient and understand that Sally will need more time than other students her age when it comes to reading, writing, and spelling.

2.  Work with Sally at home, helping her on various educational concepts that she has difficulty understanding.

3.  Provide much positive reinforcement, verbal praise, and word of encouragement.

4.  Help Sally deal with her frustration levels by letting her know that you will help her in any way that you can.

5.  Provide Sally with any computer programs or outside materials which could benefit her learning style.

6.  Think about talking to other parents whose children have a learning disability. There are many organizations available; contact the school for more information.

_____________________________

Sandra Smith, M.A., Educational Evaluator

Educational Evaluator

Conclusion

When all is said and done, the comprehensive report is perhaps the most important part of the special education process. All of the data collection, hard work, statistical analyses, and relevant information now need to be expressed to all those involved. When a report is well written, it explains everything that was found along with appropriate recommendations. As special educators, writing is a critical part of your job. Being able to express yourself clearly helps all those with whom you work. In the end, the comprehensive report should be clear, cogent, and concise. When written professionally, the reader should walk away with a complete and thorough understanding of the testing done, what was found, and the recommendations for the future.

Vocabulary

Academic history: This section provides the reader with relevant academic performance during the child’s school years.

Background history: The section of the comprehensive report that contains a very thorough description of the child’s family history, developmental history, academic history, and social history.

Behavioral observations: The fourth section of the comprehensive report that includes a description of the child’s behavior during the testing sessions. This can be a very important section because it may reinforce what is seen in the class or be very different, in which case the structure of the testing environment should be explored for clues to learning style.

Chronological age: The age of the child at the time of testing.

Conclusions: In this section of the comprehensive report, the examiner indicates in very simple terms to the reader the trends in the child’s testing results that may indicate academic strengths and weaknesses, modality strengths and weaknesses, process strengths and weaknesses, and overall diagnosis and level of severity of the problem areas indicated.

Content area by content area approach: In the test results section, it takes all the reading, math, spelling, writing, visual, auditory, and motor tests from each evaluation measure and analyzes the results separately by content area. The examiner analyzes each content area in hopes of establishing patterns of strengths and weaknesses.

Developmental history: The purpose of this information is to give the reader any relevant background history pertaining to developmental milestones. This section need not read like a hospital report but should contain the basic developmental history.

Family history: This information provides the reader with a general understanding of the family structure, siblings, parental perceptions, and so on.

Identifying data: The first section of a comprehensive report, which contains all the necessary basic information about the child. This section is important to the reader especially if further contact is required. It allows the reader to have all the basic information in one place.

Reason for referral: The second section of the comprehensive report that explains to the reader the specific reasons why this evaluation is taking place. It should not be more than two to three sentences, but should be comprehensive enough to clarify the purpose.

Recommendations: The last section of the comprehensive report and probably the most valuable section for the reader. It should contain practical recommendations that will bring some hope and direction for the identified problem areas.

Social history: This section should provide the reader with an understanding of the child in his social world. Group participation, organizations, hobbies, interests, interaction with peers, social style, and so forth should all be discussed.

Test by test approach: In the test results section, it analyzes the child’s performance on each test separately. It analyzes the results of the different subtests and provides indications of strengths and weaknesses, manner of approach, and indications of whether the scores on the specific test should be considered valid.

Test results: The section of the comprehensive report that analyzes the results of each test and looks at the child’s individual performance on each measure.

Tests and procedures administered: The section of the comprehensive report that includes a simple list of the individual tests included in the test battery and any procedures used to enhance the report, such as classroom observation, review of records, parent intake.