1. Quality of Education Predicts Performance on the Wide Range Achievement Test-4th Edition Word Reading Subtest
- Author
-
Sayegh, Philip, Arentoft, Alyssa, Thaler, Nicholas S, Dean, Andy C, and Thames, April D
- Subjects
Neurosciences ,Basic Behavioral and Social Science ,Clinical Research ,Behavioral and Social Science ,Quality Education ,Adult ,Aged ,Educational Measurement ,Female ,Humans ,Language Tests ,Male ,Middle Aged ,Neuropsychological Tests ,Psychomotor Performance ,Reading ,Reproducibility of Results ,Young Adult ,Literacy ,Academic achievement ,Neurocognition ,High schools ,Multiple regression ,Test validity ,Psychology ,Cognitive Sciences ,Clinical Psychology - Abstract
The current study examined whether self-rated education quality predicts Wide Range Achievement Test-4th Edition (WRAT-4) Word Reading subtest and neurocognitive performance, and aimed to establish this subtest's construct validity as an educational quality measure. In a community-based adult sample (N = 106), we tested whether education quality both increased the prediction of Word Reading scores beyond demographic variables and predicted global neurocognitive functioning after adjusting for WRAT-4. As expected, race/ethnicity and education predicted WRAT-4 reading performance. Hierarchical regression revealed that when including education quality, the amount of WRAT-4's explained variance increased significantly, with race/ethnicity and both education quality and years as significant predictors. Finally, WRAT-4 scores, but not education quality, predicted neurocognitive performance. Results support WRAT-4 Word Reading as a valid proxy measure for education quality and a key predictor of neurocognitive performance. Future research should examine these findings in larger, more diverse samples to determine their robust nature.
- Published
- 2014