Cognitive and Neuropsychological Correlates of Academic Achievement: A Levels of Analysis Assessment Model

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Abstract
Regression techniques were used to evaluate whether combining a subtest of a cognitive battery and a subtest of a neuropsychological battery contributes to educational asessment. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), the Halstead Reitan Battery for Older Children (9-14), the Wide Range Achievement Test, and the Analytical Reading Inventory were administered to 49 children aged 10 to 12 referred to a medical center for assessment of school learning problems. Correlations between subtests in the cognitive battery (WISC-R) and the neuropsychological battery (Halstead-Reitan) indicated both common and unique variance between these batteries. When combinations of a cognitive and a neuropsychological subtest were compared to a single cognitive or neuropsychological subtest alone, significantly more variance in word decoding, reading comprehension, and arithmetic was explained by combinations than by single subtests. These findings show that cognitive and neuropsychological subtests are not redundant and that inclusion of both improves educational assessment. Both cognitive and neuropsychological testing are needed for inferences about levels of function within working brain systems related to school achievement.