Introduction. Test Score Discrepancy Analyzer 2.0 (TSA 2.0) is a web-based application that runs discrepancy analyses between intelligence and academic achievement tests. The program uses a statistical formula that accounts for regression (degree of correlation) between a student's IQ and achievement test scores. (For a complete overview of the statistical formulas used in this discrepancy software, go to Best Practices in Calculating Severe Discrepancies on this web site.) This brief manual provides basic operating instructions for the TSA 2.0.

Basic Navigation. In using the TSA 2.0, you visit a series of web pages and enter Figure 1: Top Navigation Bar information into forms about the tests that are being compared. You can travel conveniently through the program by clicking on the navigation bar that appears at the top of each page (see Figure 1). Page destinations are listed at the top of the navigation bar. The page currently being visited is highlighted in gray. You can visit pages in any order. Three 'function buttons' also appear on the navigation bar. The button "Start New Report" will erase any information that you have already entered on a particular student and present you with a blank Background Information page for you to start a new report. The button "View Test Report" submits all user-entered test information to a web server, which completes a test discrepancy analysis and displays the resulting report in a separate browser window. The button "Open Help Manual" displays the TSA 2.0 On-Line Manual in a separate window.

Background Information. The first screen that the user encounters in the TSA 2.0 Figure 2: Background Information Page is the Background Information page. This page collects information that will appear in the introductory section of the TSA 2.0 report. In this section, you enter the student's first and last names, the name of the examiner who completed testing, and the student's school or educational program. You can also leave selected boxes blank; on the final report, these values will appear as "unidentified". Please note that information that you enter is not formally recorded until you click the "Record Background Information" button. Once the information has been entered, you should check the box "Verify Background Information" to see that the entered data is correct and appears in a form appropriate for display in the final test discrepancy report. You are not required to enter any identifying information on this page. If background information is not entered, the final test report will simply note that student, examiner, and school are "unidentified". Clinicians concerned about issues of confidentiality when submitting student information to an Internet site may wish to leave this form blank. Alternatively, clinicians may decide to enter only the student's initials to preserve anonymity.

Test Date & Student Age. On this page, Figure 3: Test Date & Student Age Page you enter both the date on which the student was tested and that student's date of birth. This information is required, as the TSA 2.0 application must have both dates in order to compute a student age (which in turn is used to look up test statistics). Use the pre-formatted drop-menus to enter date information. Your date entries are not formally recorded until you click the "Calculate Age" button. To compute student age, this application uses the method presented in Wechsler (1991) one widely used by clinicians to calculate student age by hand. The student's date of birth is subtracted from the date of testing. For the purposes of age calculation, all ages are assumed to have 30 days. Also, student ages are not rounded up to the nearest month. Often, examiners take several sessions to complete testing with a student, making it difficult to select a single "testing date". While you have latitude in such situations about what test date to enter, we generally recommend that you select a date on which academic achievement testing was administered.

Rule-Outs. According to the regulations Figure 4: Excerpt from Rule-Outs Page of both the Federal Government and most state educational agencies, learning disabilities cannot be diagnosed unless competing explanations for learning problems have been carefully considered and ruled out. The Rule-Outs page contains a listing of the most common reasons for student educational failure. You should read through each of the items. If you believe that an item may explain the student's learning difficulties or play an important contributing role in these difficulties, check the item. Only if you believe, based on your knowledge of the student, that the student's learning problems are not caused by any of the factors listed, should you check the item: There are no apparent conditions that should be investigated as alternative explanations to learning disabilities. To record selected rule-outs, click the "Enter Selected Rule-Outs" button. On the final test discrepancy report, those items that were not endorsed will appear as having been conclusively ruled out. Those items that were endorsed will appear on the final report as suspected or known to have contributed to the student's learning problems.

IQ Test Selection. On this page, you select the intelligence- test Figure 5: Deleting IQ Tests from Your Selected List Figure 6: Selecting an IQ Test From the TSA 2.0 Database measures to be included in a test discrepancy report. At the top of the page (see Figure 5), those tests that you have already selected will appear. If you click on the title of an already-selected test, you will be given the option of deleting the test from your selected list. You can enter up to 3 intelligence-test scores for a discrepancy analysis. The TSA 2.0 has a database of pre-entered test statistics from commonly used intelligence measures. You can browse through the pre-entered IQ tests by using the drop-menu. (See Figure 6.) If Figure 7: Entering Your Own IQ Test Information Figure 8: Entering IQ Score and Verifying Test Information you don't find the IQ test that you are looking for in the TSA 2.0's database, you can enter your own test information (See Figure 7). Be sure to have the test manual on hand when entering your own test data. You will need to type in a test name, the mean score for the test (set to a default value of 100), and the test standard deviation (set to a default value of 15). The program also requires that you enter the internal consistency reliability coefficient that corresponds to the student's age (set to a default value of .95). (This information should appear in a table in the test manual.) Once you have either selected a test from the TSA 2.0 database or entered your own test information, you enter the student's IQ test score, using the drop-menu. (See Figure 8). Click the "Enter Test" button to record your test information, and review the information that you entered in the "Verify Test Information" box. When selecting intelligence tests to enter into the discrepancy program, try as a rule to use global scales estimates of student aptitude, or cognitive potential. Because global scales typically are compiled from a number of sub-tests, they sample a wide range of student abilities and thus tend to be accurate and stable predictors of student achievement. In contrast, sub-scales or sub-tests are not usually desirable candidates as measures of intellectual potential because they are based on a less comprehensive inventory of student problem-solving behaviors. Similarly, pro-rating of test scores (that is, estimating a global scale based on results from an incomplete set of sub-tests) should only be done when the examiner has a clear and defensible clinical rationale for doing so. Occasionally, of course, we have little choice but to estimate a child's intellectual potential using only partial test results--but the practice should be avoided whenever possible and its limitations acknowledged when it does occur.

Achievement Test Selection. On this page, you select the achievement- test Figure 9: Deleting Achievement Tests from Your Selected List Figure 10: Selecting an Achievement Test From the TSA 2.0 Database measures to be included in a test discrepancy report. At the top of the page (see Figure 9), those tests that you have already selected will appear. If you click on the title of an already-selected test, you will be given the option of deleting the test from your selected list. You can enter up to 5 achievement test scores for a discrepancy analysis. The TSA 2.0 has a database of pre-entered test statistics from commonly used achievement measures. Figure 11: Entering Your Own Achievement Test Information Figure 12: Entering Achievement Test Score and Verifying Test Information You can browse through the pre-entered academic achievement tests by using the drop-menu. (See Figure 10.) If you don't find the achievement test that you are looking for in the TSA 2.0's database, you can enter your own test information (See Figure 11). Be sure to have the test manual on hand when entering your own test data. You will need to type in a test name, the mean score for the test (set to a default value of 100), and the test standard deviation (set to a default value of 15). The program also requires that you enter the internal consistency reliability coefficient that corresponds to the student's age (set to a default value of .95). (This information should appear in a table in the test manual.) Once you have either selected a test from the TSA 2.0 database or entered your own test information, you enter the student's achievement test score, using the drop-menu. (See Figure 12). Click the "Enter Test" button to record your test information, and review the information that you entered in the "Verify Test Information" box. A Note of Caution. The TSA 2.0 can accommodate up to 3 IQ tests and 5 achievement tests at once, permitting the examiner to run 15 test-score discrepancy comparisons at one time. A temptation may be to "data-snoop" by running multiple comparisons of student test scores to see if one or more are found to be severely discrepant. A danger in running multiple discrepancy comparisons is that, as the number of comparisons run increases, so too does the possibility that you will find a severe discrepancy that occurred solely by chance. As a responsible tester, you usually should have an idea in advance of your testing in what areas the student is having academic difficulties. After testing, you would compare achievement scores in those academic domains in which you knew the student to be struggling to his or her IQ score(s). Most school psychologist trainers would agree, however, that in the absence of a compelling rationale, one should not simply plug in "found" low achievement scores in an effort to fish for severe IQ/Achievement discrepancies.

Preferred Settings. The Preferred Settings page allows you to customize your test discrepancy report by s Figure 13: Preferred Settings Page electing sections to include or exclude. Here is a brief review of report options from which you can choose: Background. Contains a brief paragraph summarizing background information such as the name and age of the student, name of the examiner, and the school or program that the student attends. Rule-Outs. Displays those factors or conditions that you endorse to rule-in or rule-out alternative explanations for student learning problems. Explanation of Discrepancy Analysis. Presents a 1-paragraph explanation of the statistical formula used to conduct the test discrepancy analysis. This section can be included to help lay persons better understand reasons for running test-discrepancy analyses. Test Results Table. The results of each IQ/Achievement discrepancy analysis are formatted in their own table for quick review. References. Test manual reference information appears in this section for any tests that are entered into the TSA 2.0 database. NOTE: The current default settings include all sections of the report except the "Explanation of Discrepancy Analysis" and "References".

TSA 2.0 Discrepancy Report. Once Figure 14: Test Table Excerpt from TSA 2.0 Discrepancy Report you have entered all essential test information, you can view the final test report. You can view the report by clicking the "View Test Report" button that appears at the top of the application's web pages. The report is intended to present to the reader all of the essential information needed to evaluate and make sense of the test score comparisons. TSA 2.0 gives you complete freedom to pick only those sections that you want to appear in the final report. (See Preferred Settings above.) Figure 14 displays a sample Test Score Comparison Table, which comprises the heart of the report. Organized within this table are all of the relevant test statistics used to run the test discrepancy analysis. Information is organized in this table to be as accessible and useful as possible to the reader. For example, you can quickly determine the outcome of the score comparison by looking at the "Discrepancy Status". Readers who wish to know the "percent discrepancy" (actually, NCE unit discrepancy) between expected and actual achievement scores can find that information on the report as well.

Test Abbreviation Test Title Publisher CTONI Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence Pro-Ed,Inc. DAS Differential Ability Scale The Psychological Corporation KABC Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children American Guidance Service KBIT Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test American Guidance Service KeyMath-R KeyMath-Revised American Guidance Service KTEA Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement American Guidance Service SB-IV Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-4th Edition The Riverside Publishing Corporation TERA-2 Test of Early Reading Ability-2nd Edition Pro-Ed,Inc. TORC Test of Reading Comprehension Pro-Ed, Inc. TOWL-3 Test of Written Language-3rd Edition Pro-Ed, Inc. WAIS-R Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised The Psychological Corporation WIAT Wechsler Individual Achievement Test The Psychological Corporation WIAT-II Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-2nd Edition The Psychological Corporation WISC-III Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-3rd Edition The Psychological Corporation WJ-III Achievement Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement The Riverside Publishing Corporation WJ-III Cognitive Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Ability The Riverside Publishing Corporation WJ-R Achievement Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Revised The Riverside Publishing Corporation WJ-R Cognitive Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability-Revised The Riverside Publishing Corporation WPPSI-R Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised The Psychological Corporation WRAT3 Wide Range Achievement Test-3rd Edition Wide Range,Inc.

References Wechsler, D. (1991). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition Manual. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.

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