What Tests Are Used in Special Education Evaluations? A Parent's Guide

You've received a 30-page evaluation report full of acronyms: WISC-V, WJ-IV, BASC-3, CTOPP-2, Conners-4. The school psychologist ran your child through a battery of tests, and you now have a document you can barely read, describing your child in language you don't recognize.

Here's what each of the major assessment tools actually measures — and why it matters which ones were (or weren't) included.

Cognitive Tests: Measuring How Your Child Thinks

Cognitive tests measure a child's intellectual capacity — how they reason, process information, solve problems, and retain new learning. These are not tests of what a child has learned; they measure the underlying mental machinery.

WISC-V (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition) is the most widely used cognitive test for children ages 6 to 16. It produces a Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) and five primary index scores: Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed. Each index reflects a different cognitive domain, and a comprehensive reading of the WISC-V looks at all five indexes individually, not just the composite FSIQ.

Stanford-Binet (SB5) is an alternative to the WISC-V, often used for children with expressive language difficulties because its nonverbal reasoning component minimizes the impact of language on scores.

KABC-II (Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children) is frequently chosen for culturally or linguistically diverse students. Its nonverbal scale is particularly useful for English language learners, producing cognitive scores that are less influenced by language proficiency.

CAS2 (Cognitive Assessment System, Second Edition) is based on the PASS theory — Planning, Attention, Simultaneous processing, and Successive processing. It is particularly useful for identifying executive functioning and attention deficits that might not be visible on a traditional IQ test.

Academic Achievement Tests: Measuring What Your Child Has Learned

Achievement tests measure what a student has actually acquired in reading, math, and writing. When paired with a cognitive test, they allow evaluators to compare what a child should theoretically be able to do with what they are actually doing.

WJ-IV (Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement) is a comprehensive battery measuring reading clusters (basic reading, reading fluency, reading comprehension), math clusters, and written language. When the WJ-IV Achievement battery is paired with the WJ-IV Cognitive battery, it enables a direct discrepancy analysis for SLD identification.

WIAT-4 (Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Fourth Edition) is commonly paired with the WISC-V. It includes specialized Dyslexia Index measures and orthographic processing subtests — making it particularly sensitive for identifying reading and written expression disabilities. It also includes automated essay scoring.

KTEA-3 (Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Third Edition) is notable for its detailed error analysis features, which help evaluators understand not just that a child is performing below grade level, but exactly where the breakdown is occurring in their reading or math processes.

Behavioral and Social-Emotional Tests: Measuring How Your Child Functions

Behavioral assessments use rating scales completed by parents, teachers, and sometimes the student. They provide a multi-perspective view of psychological functioning and are essential for identifying ADHD, emotional disturbance, autism, and executive dysfunction.

BASC-3 (Behavior Assessment System for Children, Third Edition) is the most comprehensive behavioral assessment tool in common use. It measures clinical scales — hyperactivity, aggression, anxiety, depression, conduct problems, attention issues — alongside adaptive scales measuring leadership and social skills. Importantly, the BASC-3 includes validity indexes that flag whether a rater may be responding inconsistently or describing the child in an extreme way.

BASC-3 scores are reported as T-scores, where the mean is 50 and the standard deviation is 10. Unlike academic tests where higher is better, on the BASC-3's clinical scales, higher T-scores indicate more problems. A T-score of 60 is mildly elevated; 65 is clinically at-risk; 70 and above is clinically significant. A T-score of 70 on the Hyperactivity scale means the child's behavior is more extreme than approximately 98% of same-age peers.

Conners-4 (Conners, Fourth Edition) is specifically designed for ADHD assessment in children ages 6 to 18. It maps directly to DSM-5 ADHD symptom counts and includes impairment items that measure how inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity are affecting daily functioning at school and home. It is one of the most validated ADHD-specific rating scales available.

BRIEF-2 (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition) isolates executive functioning deficits specifically — inhibition, self-monitoring, shifting attention, emotional control, working memory, and organization of materials. While the BASC-3 includes some executive functioning items, the BRIEF-2 provides a much more granular profile. A child who forgets assignments, loses belongings constantly, and can't transition between tasks may score poorly on the BRIEF-2 even if they perform adequately on other behavioral measures.

CBCL (Child Behavior Checklist) is part of the Achenbach System and uses broadband and narrowband scales to measure emotional and behavioral problems. It is often used to complement the BASC-3 and confirm psychological profiles.

Autism-Specific Assessment Tools

Because autism is defined by behavioral criteria rather than a biological marker, specific observational tools are required.

ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition) is the gold standard observational tool for autism. It uses semi-structured social situations across different modules (based on the child's age and language level) to observe communication, social reciprocity, and repetitive behaviors. Its limitation: it is a snapshot in time, and children who mask their symptoms effectively in a structured one-on-one setting may not show their typical behavioral profile.

ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised) is a structured 90-minute parent interview covering the child's developmental history and current behavioral profile. It is designed to complement the ADOS-2 by capturing how the child behaves across environments over time, not just in the testing room.

SRS-2 (Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition) measures social impairment as a continuum rather than a binary. T-scores of 76 or higher indicate severe interference with everyday social interactions. It relies on parent and teacher forms and is effective for detecting subtle social difficulties that might be missed in a clinical observation.

Processing Tests: Finding the Specific Deficit

When an SLD is suspected, evaluators often add processing-specific tests to identify the exact mechanism behind the academic difficulty.

CTOPP-2 (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing) measures phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming — the core processing skills underlying reading decoding. A child who scores average on cognitive tests but has a significant phonological processing weakness identified by the CTOPP-2 has the processing evidence necessary to support an SLD identification under the Pattern of Strengths and Weaknesses model.

Beery VMI (Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration) assesses how well a child integrates visual perception with hand-finger movement — copying increasingly complex geometric shapes. This is a critical component for diagnosing dysgraphia (written expression SLD).

What to Do If a Test Was Missing

A school evaluation that doesn't include behavioral rating scales when a child has attention or emotional concerns, or that skips achievement testing when a learning disability is suspected, is legally insufficient under IDEA. The law requires assessment in "all areas of suspected disability."

If you received an evaluation that you believe was too narrow, you have the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at the district's expense. To exercise this right effectively, you need to understand which tools should have been included and why — which is exactly what the United States Special Ed Assessment Decoder walks through, along with how to read the scores from each of these instruments and connect them to specific IEP accommodations and goals.

See more United States guides →