Riverside Score
Woodcock-Johnson Research Study
Explore Recommended Assessments
Research Study
Woodcock-Johnson Research Study
-
About the Woodcock-Johnson
-
About the Research Study
What is Riverside Insights?
Riverside Insights is a leading publisher of educational and clinical assessment products. We are currently conducting a research study to collect normative data for the Woodcock-Johnson.
What is the Woodcock-Johnson?
The Woodcock-Johnson (WJ) is a set of tests that measure a person’s cognitive abilities (e.g., memory, reasoning, and vocabulary), oral language (e.g., listening skills), and achievement (e.g., reading, writing, and mathematics). The tests are given in-person to one person at a time and are administered on an iPad. The WJ was first published in 1977 and has been updated/revised approximately once every ten years since then.
What is the Woodcock-Johnson used for?
The people who use the WJ are typically clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists, school psychologists, educational diagnosticians, or teachers. Some of the tests in the WJ can be administered to children as young as 3 years and to adults as old as 100 years, so it is used widely in schools, clinical settings, and universities across the United States. The following are just a few examples of how the WJ tests are used:
- to help identify and diagnose learning problems in children;
- to assess cognitive functioning or decline in older adults;
- to determine eligibility for gifted educational classes;
- to assess cognitive, oral language, or academic skills of the participants in research studies.
Professionals who administer the Woodcock-Johnson to children and adults in these scenarios can glean a wealth of information about the individual’s skills. The scores from these tests tell the professional how that individual’s skills compare to other people who are the same age. These are called normative scores. One common type of normative score is a percentile rank, which describes how many out of 100 same-age people, randomly selected from the population, would likely score the same or lower on the test. For example, if a child who scores at the 55th percentile on a reading test it means that in a random sample of 100 U.S. children who are the same age, 55 of them would have scores that are the same or lower than the child’s score.
What is the purpose of this research study?
We will be administering the WJ test to approximately 8,000 people across the United States from ages 3 through 90+. The purpose of the research study is to collect the normative information for the WJ tests.
In order to be able to compare an individual’s performance on the WJ tests to others of the same age, we first need to understand how others perform on the same tests.
It is important that our normative sample closely represents the U.S. population in terms regional location, race/ethnicity, and educational levels, so we include people from all areas of the country and from lots of different backgrounds and communities in our research study.
How do I sign up?
Reach out to your local WJ Research Study Field Examiner to receive a link to the permission survey. Likely, that is the person who shared this link with you. If you do not know your local Field Examiner, send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “WJRS Examinee.”
I am a leader or director of a club, team, or other organization, and would like more information about fundraising via this study. How do I get started?
Reach out to your local WJ Research Study Field Examiner for more information. If you do not know your local Field Examiner, send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “WJRS Fundraiser.”
What is it like to participate in the study?
The typical time commitment for participation is about 2 to 2.5 hours, which allows for a few short breaks during the session. During the session, a trained professional administers the WJ tests to the participant on an individual basis. Most of the WJ tests are administered via an iPad. The tests include a variety of activities and tasks.
Sometimes, the administrator asks open-ended questions (e.g., “Tell me another word that means _____” or “What is this picture?”); other times, the administrator asks the participant to solve puzzles or problems on the iPad. Some activities are timed (e.g., “I want to see how fast you can find two numbers that look alike,”) while other activities require the participant to read a passage at their own pace and then answer questions about what they read.
A typical session includes about 15 to 20 different activities, each lasting a few minutes. The activities and questions are all tailored to the age of the participant, so that younger children encounter easier questions and tasks than older children and adults, who encounter more difficult or age-appropriate questions.
Are there any risks to my child or me for participation?
There are no risks to you or your child. For younger children, study administrators can split the session into two or more shorter session to avoid the child becoming too tired or restless during the session. All of your personal information is kept confidential, and your responses to questions during the session are not shared outside of the Riverside Insights research team.
The purpose of the research study is to “test the tests”; in other words, the data we collect help us to determine how easy or difficult the WJ test questions are for individuals of different ages. Therefore, we expect some of the tasks/activities to seem very easy and some of them to seem difficult for most people. The study administrator will clearly explain this to the participant at the beginning of the session.
What are the benefits for participating?
- It’s fun! Most study participants find the activities to be fun and engaging.
- It helps others! Should you decide to participate, you will be helping us update an important tool that is used
by schools and clinics across the U.S. - You get paid! Participants each receive a $100 Amazon e-gift card for participation.
- Your team or club can also get paid! Organizations who partner with Riverside Insights to help us recruit participants will also receive $25 for each recruited participant who completes the study. Participation in this study makes a great fundraiser for organizations such as youth sports teams, school PTAs, church groups, and scout troops.
-
About the Woodcock-Johnson
-
About the Research Study
What is Riverside Insights?
Riverside Insights is a leading publisher of educational and clinical assessment products. We are currently conducting a research study to collect normative data for the Woodcock-Johnson.
What is Riverside Insights?
Riverside Insights is a leading publisher of educational and clinical assessment products. We are currently conducting a research study to collect normative data for the Woodcock-Johnson.
What is the Woodcock-Johnson?
The Woodcock-Johnson (WJ) is a set of tests that measure a person’s cognitive abilities (e.g., memory, reasoning, and vocabulary), oral language (e.g., listening skills), and achievement (e.g., reading, writing, and mathematics). The tests are given in-person to one person at a time and are administered on an iPad. The WJ was first published in 1977 and has been updated/revised approximately once every ten years since then.
What is the Woodcock-Johnson used for?
The people who use the WJ are typically clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists, school psychologists, educational diagnosticians, or teachers.
Some of the tests in the WJ can be administered to children as young as 3 years and to adults as old as 100 years, so it is used widely in schools, clinical settings, and universities across the United States. The following are just a few examples of how the WJ tests are used:
- to help identify and diagnose learning problems in children;
- to assess cognitive functioning or decline in older adults;
- to determine eligibility for gifted educational classes;
- to assess cognitive, oral language, or academic skills of the participants in research studies.
Professionals who administer the Woodcock-Johnson to children and adults in these scenarios can glean a wealth of information about the individual’s skills. The scores from these tests tell the professional how that individual’s skills compare to other people who are the same age. These are called normative scores.
One common type of normative score is a percentile rank, which describes how many out of 100 same-age people, randomly selected from the population, would likely score the same or lower on the test. For example, if a child who scores at the 55th percentile on a reading test it means that in a random sample of 100 U.S. children who are the same age, 55 of them would have scores that are the same or lower than the child’s score.
What is the purpose of this research study?
We will be administering the WJ test to approximately 8,000 people across the United States from ages 3 through 90+. The purpose of the research study is to collect the normative information for the WJ tests.
In order to be able to compare an individual’s performance on the WJ tests to others of the same age, we first need to understand how others perform on the same tests.
It is important that our normative sample closely represents the U.S. population in terms regional location, race/ethnicity, and educational levels, so we include people from all areas of the country and from lots of different backgrounds and communities in our research study.
How do I sign up?
Reach out to your local WJ Research Study Field Examiner to receive a link to the permission survey. Likely, that is the person who shared this link with you. If you do not know your local Field Examiner, send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “WJRS Examinee.”
I am a leader or director of a club, team, or other organization, and would like more information about fundraising via this study. How do I get started?
Reach out to your local WJ Research Study Field Examiner for more information. If you do not know your local Field Examiner, send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “WJRS Fundraiser.”
What is it like to participate in the study?
The typical time commitment for participation is about 2 to 2.5 hours, which allows for a few short breaks during the session. During the session, a trained professional administers the WJ tests to the participant on an individual basis. Most of the WJ tests are administered via an iPad. The tests include a variety of activities and tasks.
Sometimes, the administrator asks open-ended questions (e.g., “Tell me another word that means _____” or “What is this picture?”); other times, the administrator asks the participant to solve puzzles or problems on the iPad. Some activities are timed (e.g., “I want to see how fast you can find two numbers that look alike,”) while other activities require the participant to read a passage at their own pace and then answer questions about what they read.
A typical session includes about 15 to 20 different activities, each lasting a few minutes. The activities and questions are all tailored to the age of the participant, so that younger children encounter easier questions and tasks than older children and adults, who encounter more difficult or age-appropriate questions.
Are there any risks to my child or me for participation?
There are no risks to you or your child. For younger children, study administrators can split the session into two or more shorter session to avoid the child becoming too tired or restless during the session. All of your personal information is kept confidential, and your responses to questions during the session are not shared outside of the Riverside Insights research team.
The purpose of the research study is to “test the tests”; in other words, the data we collect help us to determine how easy or difficult the WJ test questions are for individuals of different ages. Therefore, we expect some of the tasks/activities to seem very easy and some of them to seem difficult for most people. The study administrator will clearly explain this to the participant at the beginning of the session.
What are the benefits for participating?
- It’s fun! Most study participants find the activities to be fun and engaging.
- It helps others! Should you decide to participate, you will be helping us update an important tool that is used
by schools and clinics across the U.S. - You get paid! Participants each receive a $100 Amazon e-gift card for participation.
- Your team or club can also get paid! Organizations who partner with Riverside Insights to help us recruit participants will also receive $25 for each recruited participant who completes the study. Participation in this study makes a great fundraiser for organizations such as youth sports teams, school PTAs, church groups, and scout troops.