Abstract.  Previous investigations of personality–intelligence relationships have sampled mainly young adults. The present study compared young and older groups in identifying personality predictors of cognitive abilities. A sample of 381 adults was administered the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities and the Big Five Inventory- 44. Participants were separated into three groups: young adults (aged 19–60), older adults that were cognitively comparable to the young, and cognitively superior older adults. Results indicated that Openness and Extraversion predicted cognitive abilities in the young and cognitively comparable old, but the speci.c abilities predicted were di.erent for the two groups. In the cognitively superior older group, Agreeableness was a negative predictor of Gc (b = .28), and Conscientiousness and Openness were predictors of short-  term memory and visual and auditory processing.

Abstract:  Structural equation modeling procedures are applied to the standardization sample of the Woodcock–Johnson III to simultaneously estimate the effects of a psychometric general factor (g), specific cognitive abilities, and reading skills on reading achievement. The results of this study indicate that g has a strong direct relationship with basic reading skills until about sixth grade. Also, g is found to have a strong indirect effect on reading fluency and comprehension across grade levels. Basic reading skills has a strong direct effect on reading fluency across grade levels. The effect of cognitive processing speed (Gs) on reading fluency increase with age. Reading fluency initially has a strong direct effect on reading comprehension, but this effect is reduced with age. Conversely, the direct effect of crystallized intelligence or knowledge (Gc) on reading comprehension increase with age.

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Abstract: Oral language skills and habits may serve as important resources for success or failure in school-       related tasks such as learning to read. This article tests this hypothesis utilizing a unique data set, the original Woodcock- Johnson psycho-  Educational Battery- Revised norming sample. This article assesses the importance of oral language by focusing on auditory processing, a variable strongly affected by the oral language of the family and peer group within which the youth is raised. It estimates a structural equation model in which this variable, along with other measures of basic cognitive skills, serve as mediators between race and mother's schooling background and basic and advanced reading skill. The model fits very well, and the youth's basic skill at auditory processing is both a major determinant of basic reading success, and by far the most important of the mediating variables. In particular, for children ages 5 to 10, this measure accounts for much of the race effect, and for more than one half of the mother's education effect on reading. Research on the determinants of social inequality should pay greater attention to the central importance of family and peer group oral language in determining cognitive performance outcomes, particularly for elementary school aged children

Abstract: This dissertation explores the construct of working memory (WM) in children, defined as the ability to concurrently remember and process information over brief periods of time. The research presented here had several goals with respect to children's working memory: (1) to develop tests of working memory that have adequate psychometric properties; (2) to ascertain whether working memory is distinct from short term memory; and (3) to investigate the relative contributions of processing speed (PS), controlled attention (CA), and short- term memory (STM) in accounting for individual differences in working memory capacity. To address these questions, tests thought to measure WM, STM, CA, and PS were administered to 119 normally functioning children between the ages of nine and thirteen. Two working memory tasks were modeled after the work of Daneman and Carpenter (1980), Engle, Carullo and Collins (1991), and Salthouse, Mitchell, Skovronek and Babcock (1989), that involved concurrent storage and semantic/computational processing of orally presented sentences/arithmetic calculations. The new WM measures were shown to have adequate internal consistency but inadequate test-retest reliability. CA was operationalized using the Stroop Colour and Word Test, the Trail- making Test, and commission errors on the Continuous Performance Test. STM was measured using the California Verbal Learning Test and the Semantic Categorization subtest from the Swanson Cognitive Processing Test. PS was assessed using the Visual Matching subtest from the Woodcock-Johnson tests of Cognitive ability, and the Symbol Search subtest from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to investigate the relations between working memory and other cognitive abilities. The results indicated that WM is distinct from, though strongly correlated with, STM. Path models indicated that this correlation is largely a function of individual differences in controlled attention, which accounts for about half of the variance in the latent WM factor. Tests of PS and CA were found to best fit a one- factor solution. Because PS and CA were very highly correlated (.96, and therefore, indistinguishable) in the present sample, it was not possible to test predictions about how they would interact with each other in the prediction of WM. The implications of this result with respect to understanding individual differences in WM capacity are discussed. Overall, the results of the present study are consistent with Engle, Tuholski, Laughlin and Conway's (1999) model in suggesting that CA is a significant predictor of WM capacity. Indeed, when one accounts for CA, STM appears to add little to the prediction of WM capacity.

Abstract: This study examined the relations between the Cattell-Horn- Carroll (CHC) theory of Cognitive abilities and reading achievement during childhood and adolescence. In a large, nationally representative sample including students 6 to 19 years of age, operational measures of CHC cognitive abilities obtained from the Woodcock- Johnson III (WJ III, Woodcock, McGrew, &Mather, 2001) were found to be signficantly related to the components of reading achievement. Multiple repssion analyses were used to regress several WJ III cognitive clusters onto the WJ III Basic Reading Skills and Reading Comprehension clusters for 14 age groups. Comprehension- Knowledge (Gc) demonstrated moderate to strong relations with the components of reading achievement across childhood and adolescence, and Short-term Memory (Gsm) demonstrated moderate relations throughout this period. Auditory Process-ing (Gu), Long-term Retrieval (Glr), and Processing Speed (Gs) demonstrated moderate relations with the components of reading achievement during the elementary school years. More specialized cognitive clusters (viz., PhonemicAwareness and Working Memory) demonstrated moderate to strong relations. In contrast, Fluid Reasoning (Gf) and Visual-Spatial Thinking (Gv) demonstrated no consistent pattern of significant relations across childhood and adolescence. The results offer external validity evidence for the WJ III cognitive clusters and provide valuable insights into the specific cognitive abilities that are important for understanding the development of reading skills during childhood and adolescence.

Abstract:  Cognitive clusters from the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ III) Tests of Cognitive Abilities that measure select Cattell-  Horn-Carroll broad and narrow cognitive abilities were shown to be significantly related to mathematics achievement in a large, nationally representative sample of children and adolescents. Multiple regression analyses were used to predict performance on the Math Calculation Skills and Math Reasoning clusters from the WJ III Tests of Achievement for 14 age groups ranging in age from 6 to 19 years. Comprehension- Knowledge (Gc) demonstrated moderate relations with Math Calculation Skills after the early school-age years and moderate to strong relations with Math Reasoning. Fluid Reasoning (Gf ), Short-term Memory (Gsm), and Working Memory generally demonstrated moderate relations with the mathematics clusters. Processing Speed (Gs) demonstrated moderate relations with Math Reasoning during the elementary school years and moderate to strong relations with Math Calculation Skills. During the earliest ages of the analysis, Long-term Retrieval (Glr) demonstrated moderate relations with the mathematics clusters, and Auditory Processing (Ga) demonstrated moderate relations with Math Calculation Skills. Visual-Spatial Thinking (Gv) generally demonstrated nonsignificant relations with the mathematics clusters.

Abstract:  This study employed structural equation modeling to examine the effects of Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) abilities on reading decoding skills using five age- differentiated subsamples from the standardization sample of the Woodcock–Johnson III (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001). Using the Spearman Model including only g, strong direct effects of g on reading decoding skills were demonstrated at all ages. Using the Two-Stratum Model including g and broad abilities, direct effects of the broad abilities Long-Term Storage and Retrieval, Processing Speed, Crystallized Intelligence, Short- Term Memory, and Auditory Processing on reading decoding skills were demonstrated at select ages. Using the Three-Stratum Model including g, broad abilities, and narrow abilities, direct effects of the broad ability Processing Speed and the narrow abilities Associative Memory, Listening Ability, General Information, Memory Span, and Phonetic Coding were demonstrated at select ages. Across both the Two- Stratum Model and the Three-Stratum Model at all ages, g had very large but indirect effects. The findings suggest that school psychologists should interpret measures of some specific cognitive abilities when conducting psychoeducational assessments designed to explain reading decoding skills.

Abstract:  This study examined the relative contributions of measures of Cattell- Horn- Carroll (CHC) cognitive abilities in explaining writing achievement. Drawing from samples that covered the age range of 7 to 18 years, simultaneous multiple regression was used to regress scores from the Woodcock- Johnson III (WJ III; Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001) that represent CHC broad and narrow abilities onto the WJ III Basic Writing Skills and Written Expression cluster scores. At most age levels, Comprehension-  Knowledge demonstrated moderate to strong effects on both writing clusters, Processing Speed demonstrated moderate effects on Basic Writing Skills and moderate to strong effects on Written Expression, and Short- Term Memory demonstrated moderate effects. At the youngest age levels, Long- Term Retrieval demonstrated moderate to strong effects on Basic Writing Skills and moderate effects on Written Expression. Auditory Processing, and Phonemic Awareness demonstrated moderate effects on only Written Expression at the youngest age levels and at some of the oldest age levels. Fluid Reasoning demonstrated moderate effects on both writing clusters only during some of the oldest age levels. Visual- Spatial Thinking primarily demonstrated negligible effects. The results provide insights into the cognitive abilities most important for understanding the writing skills of children during the school-age years.

Abstract.  The present study evaluated the criterion validity of the aggregated tasks of basic cognitive processes (TBCP). In age groups from 6 to 19 of the Woodcock-Johnson III Cognitive Abilities and Achievement Tests normative sample, the aggregated TBCP, i.e., the processing speed and working memory clusters, correlate with measures of scholastic achievement as strongly as the conventional indexes of crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence. These basic processing aggregates also mediate almost exhaustively the correlations between measures of fluid intelligence and achievement, and appear to explain substantially more of the achievement measures than the fluid ability index. The results from the Western Reserve Twin Project sample using TBCP with more rigorous experimental paradigms were similar, suggesting that it may be practically feasible to adopt TBCP with experimental paradigms into the psychometric testing tradition. Results based on the latent factors in structural equation models largely confirmed the findings based on the observed aggregates and composites.

Abstract: Recent research has pointed out the theoretical basis and predictive utility of Cattell- Horn-  Carroll (CHC) theory in cognitive assessment. Guidelines have also been presented for conducting cross-battery assessments using CHC theory as a basis. The general purpose of the present study was to utilize CHC- based Cross-Battery Assessment to predict reading achievement as measured by traditional or alternative forms of assessment, such as Curriculum- Based Measurement (CBM). Hypotheses formulated for the present study included auditory processing, crystallized intelligence, short term memory, long term retrieval, processing speed, and fluid intelligence being important predictors of basic reading skills and reading comprehension in learning disabled middle school students. The present study was conducted through a records review. All students received psychological evaluations and were assessed through CHC Cross- Battery Assessment. In addition, educational evaluations consisting of the Woodcock- Johnson Tests of Achievement-Revised and three CBM oral reading fluency probes were also administered to the students. Stepwise multiple regressions were performed for each of three dependent variables (word identification, passage comprehension, and oral reading fluency) using six independent variables (fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, short term memory, auditory processing, long term retrieval, and processing speed). Results at least partially substantiated the hypotheses that crystallized intelligence, processing speed, auditory processing, and short term memory would be significant predictors of basic reading skills and reading comprehension in learning disabled middle school students. However, hypotheses that long term retrieval and fluid intelligence would be significant predictors of basic reading skills and reading comprehension in learning disabled middle school students were not substantiated. Implications for future research and school psychology practice were also discussed.

Abstract: The intimate family culture for early literacy socialization was documented for a socioculturally heterogeneous sample of 66 children enrolled in pre-kindergarten through third grade at public elementary schools in a large U.S. city. Parents were interviewed about 3 types of indexes of their family's intimate culture: the child's engagement in various literacy-related activities at home, the parents' orientation towards the significance of literacy for early child development, and the family's routines of dinnertime, reading aloud, and doing homework for school. Basic reading competencies were assessed with the Woodcock- Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-- Tests of Achievement, Revised. Multiple regression analysis found that a significant proportion of variance in the children's literacy development was predicted by each of the quantitative indexes of intimate family culture, leaving little or no additional variance that was due to family income or ethnicity.

Abstract: This study investigated the direct and indirect effects of general intelligence and 7 broad cognitive abilities on mathematics achievement. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the simultaneous effects of both general and broad cognitive abilities on students’ mathematics achievement. A hierarchical model of intelligence derived from the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) taxonomy of intelligence was used for all analyses. The participants consisted of 4 age-differentiated subsamples (ranging from ages 5 to 19) from the standardization sample of the Woodcock–Johnson III (WJ III; Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001). Data from each of the 4 age- differentiated subsamples were divided into 2 data sets. At each age level, one data set was used for model testing and modification, and a second data set was used for model validation. The following CHC broad cognitive ability factors demonstrated statistically significant direct effects on the mathematics achievement variables: Fluid Reasoning, Crystallized Intelligence, and Processing Speed. In contrast, across all age levels, the general intelligence factor demonstrated indirect effects on the mathematics achievement variable.

Abstract.  Since the development of the Weschler scales, significant advances have been made in intelligence theory and testing technology that have the potential to provide a more comprehensive understanding of cognitive abilities than currently exists. For this study, the standardization sample of the Woodcock–Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-  Revised (WJ- R)—an empirically supported measure of several constructs within the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities—was used to analyze the contribution of specific cognitive abilities to reading achievement at five developmental levels. Structural equation modeling (SEM), with calibration and cross- validation samples, of four different models of the hypothesized relations among the variables was conducted to determine if specific abilities can provide relevant information regarding the development of reading skills. The results of this study clearly indicate that Gc (comprehension knowledge or crystallized intelligence) and Ga (auditory processing) play an important role in the development of reading skills.

Elementary and middle school children were given a large battery of tests evaluating reading subskills and reading- related cognitive abilities. These measures were used to define latent constructs representing skills and abilities believed to be important components of reading comprehension. Hypothesized relationships among these constructs were specified within the context of a structural model we call the “Convergent Skills Model of Reading Development,” and developmental differences in the relative contribution made by each construct to reading comprehension performance were assessed through confirmatory factor analysis using the LISREL and AMOS programs. Results provide qualified support for the model and were interpreted as consistent with the major premises of both Gough and Tunmer’s (1986) “Simple View” and Sticht’s (1979) “Audread” models of reading.

Abstract: This study used data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its 1997 Child Development Supplement to examine how family income matters for young children's development. The sample included 753 children (aged 3-5 yrs) in 1997. Two sets of mediating factors were examined that reflect two dominating views in the literature: (1) the investment perspective, and (2) the family process perspective. The study examined how two measures of income (stability and level) were associated with preschool children's developmental outcomes (Woodcock-Johnson [W- J] Achievement Test scores and the Behavior Problem Index [BPI]) through investment and family process pathways. Results supported the hypothesis that distinct mediating mechanisms operate on the association between income and different child outcomes. Much of the association between income and children's W-    J scores was mediated by the family's ability to invest in providing a stimulating learning environment. In contrast, family income was associated with children's BPI scores primarily through maternal emotional distress and parenting practices. Level of income was associated with W-J letter-word scores and income stability was associated with W-J applied problem scores and BPI, even after all controls were included in the models.