What Is an Educational Assessment?
An educational assessment is a series of assessments that provide valuable insights into a child’s learning skills. It involves a series of tests designed to measure a child’s cognitive abilities and academic skills. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fifth edition (WISC-V) is a cognitive assessment that is often used to assess a child’s intellectual abilities, including areas like verbal comprehension, visual-spatial skills, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – Fourth edition (WIAT-IV) measures academic achievement in areas such as reading, mathematics, writing, and oral language. When analysed together, these assessments provide a holistic view of a child’s academic skills and can support the understanding of the child’s strengths and weaknesses within their profile.
When Might an Educational Assessment Be Helpful?
An educational assessment might be recommended if a child is experiencing academic challenges. For example, if a child is having persistent and consistent difficulties learning to read or understand mathematical concepts, an educational assessment can assist with identifying the underlying challenges. Perhaps they have difficulty retaining information, so knowing the working memory capacity can be helpful, too. An educational assessment can help identify cognitive challenges, learning difficulties, giftedness, and specific learning disorders such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.
How Can an Educational Assessment Help?
An educational assessment includes the completion of:
- a parent appointment, which allows the clinician to gather information about the child’s developmental history for the parent or caregiver
- a child appointment, which provides and opportunity for the clinician and the child to meet each other prior to completing the assessments
- a cognitive assessment, such as the WISC-V, completed by the child with the clinician
- an academic achievement assessment, such as the WIAT-IV, completed by the child with the clinician
- a feedback appointment, where any findings are shared with the parent or caregiver
- a detailed report with assessment outcomes and recommendations targeted to the child’s specific needs.
Educational assessments provide specific information that can be used to ensure a child receives appropriate accommodations, interventions, resources and support to help with their academic development. This can result in better outcomes during their school years and into adulthood.
If you are concerned about your child’s academic progress and think an educational assessment might be helpful, please contact our friendly team at Progressive Psychology on 0477 798 932 to make an appointment.