WJ V vs WJ IV: What Changes for Your Reports

Moving from the Woodcock-Johnson IV to the Woodcock-Johnson V means updating your test descriptions, administration language, score tables, norm references and citations. Re-evaluations also need to distinguish earlier WJ IV results from current WJ V results.

The WJ V product details below come from Riverside Insights' public WJ V page. The report-writing guidance explains how those changes affect your templates. For test-specific administration and interpretation, use the examiner's manual and Riverside's training materials.

What Riverside Says Is Different

Riverside describes the WJ V as a digital-native, co-normed system that measures cognitive ability, academic achievement and oral language on one platform. The points that affect your reports:

• It is a new edition. Riverside states that the WJ V is not a digital conversion of the WJ IV. The platform allows test content and features to be added between major releases.
• It is fully digital. There is no physical kit. The examiner uses a laptop and a silent mouse, and the examinee uses a tablet (Riverside recommends an iPad). Response booklets for ten tests can be printed free from Riverside Score.
• Scoring happens in Riverside Score. Riverside lists automated scoring, automatic starting points and continuation rules, automated basal and ceiling logic, and standardized video instructions.
• It has an offline mode. Testing can run without an internet connection.
• The batteries are co-normed. Cognitive and achievement results use the same reference group.
• The norms are new. Riverside reports that the WJ V was normed from 2022 to 2024, aligned to 2020 U.S. Census demographics, with a sample of more than 5,000.

Riverside also lists new tests, including Matrices, Paragraph Reading Comprehension and Rapid Letter Naming, along with a Dyslexia Test Set and a WJ V Nonverbal option. Check the manual for the full test and cluster list before rebuilding your templates.

1. Rewrite the Test Description

If your WJ IV template describes an easel or physical test kit, that language does not fit a WJ V administration. Replace the description with one specific to the new edition.

A WJ V description should cover:

• The full name and abbreviation of the edition, as printed in the manual and score report.
• Which batteries you used (cognitive, achievement, oral language) and which tests within them.
• The shared norm sample for cognitive and achievement results, if you compare across them.
• When the norms were collected and the population they represent.

Keep the description focused on what families and teachers need to understand the results. One or two sentences about the norms is enough.

2. Describe a Digital Administration Accurately

Your behavioral observations and testing conditions section should describe how you administered the test:

• Format. State that the test was administered digitally, with the examinee responding on a tablet.
• Printed response booklets. Identify the tests for which the examinee used printed response booklets.
• Video instructions. Where standardized video instructions were used, you can note how directions were delivered.
• Connectivity. Offline mode alone usually does not need mentioning. If a connection problem interrupted a test, document the interruption and its effect on your confidence in the result.
• Remote or in person. Riverside points to an equivalency study of remote and in-person WJ V administration. Read it and the manual's remote guidance before testing remotely. Document who was present, what equipment was used and any departure from standard administration.

Your sentences about engagement still matter. A tablet does not tell you whether a student rushed, answered at random or lost focus on timed tasks. Your direct observation is still what supports a validity statement.

3. Rebuild Your Score Tables

Riverside Score produces the scores. Before your first WJ V report:

• Rebuild the table template. Use the clusters and tests listed in the WJ V manual. Remove empty WJ IV rows kept "for later."
• Choose which scores to report. Decide which score types appear in your tables, such as standard scores, percentile ranks, confidence intervals and classification labels, and use them consistently across reports.
• Use the manual's classification labels. Descriptive ranges differ between publishers and sometimes between editions. Take each range label from the WJ V manual.
• Check every number against the score report. Recheck each value in the draft for transcription errors and missing rows.

If you use a report drafting tool, check that it supports the WJ V clusters and tests you need. The WJ V assessment page explains PsychReport's score entry and score report import for the cognitive and achievement batteries (how Smart Score Import works).

4. Handle the Transition Between Editions

During the transition, your practice may use both editions, and re-evaluations may include earlier WJ IV results. Riverside still lists the WJ IV among its clinical assessments. Plan for three situations.

A re-evaluation with WJ IV scores on file. Report the earlier scores as history, naming the edition and evaluation date. A difference between a WJ IV standard score and a WJ V standard score does not, by itself, establish growth or decline. The editions use different norm samples collected years apart; Riverside describes the WJ IV norms as more than a decade old. Scores can shift between editions for reasons unrelated to changes in the student. Base current conclusions on current data and use the history to describe patterns, with the edition difference clearly stated.

A battery that mixes editions. If you use a WJ IV test alongside WJ V tests in one evaluation, those scores do not share a norm group. Comparisons across the editions therefore lack the benefit of co-norming. Avoid mixing editions where possible. If you must, identify each edition in the procedures and limit comparisons to those supported by the manual.

Two clinicians on two editions. In a group practice or district, one examiner may use the WJ V while another uses the WJ IV. Agree on language for each edition and label templates clearly to prevent the wrong description from appearing in a report.

5. Cite the Edition Correctly

Consistent names and citations help readers identify the test used:

• Use the edition's name and abbreviation as printed by the publisher. Do not alternate between "WJ-5," "WJ V" and "Woodcock-Johnson 5" in the same document.
• Name the publisher (Riverside Insights) and take publication details for formal citations from the manual.
• Where you report scores from both editions, label each table with its edition.
• Search your templates for "IV" before your first WJ V report goes out, and review each occurrence for accuracy.

6. Explain the Results in Plain Language

Families and teachers need to know what was measured, how the student performed compared with same-age or same-grade peers, and what the results mean for next steps. The edition change adds two things worth explaining in a sentence each:

• Why cognitive and achievement results can be compared. "Both sets of tests were normed on the same group of students, so the comparison does not mix two different reference groups."
• Why scores may differ from an earlier evaluation. "The earlier evaluation used the previous edition, which compared your child with a different group of students. Some difference between editions is expected and does not by itself mean your child's skills changed."

A new edition is a good time to review the whole template, not only the test description. The basics of what goes into a psychological report are a useful checklist.

A Transition Checklist

1. Replace the WJ IV test description paragraph with a WJ V version.
2. Add digital administration language to your testing conditions section.
3. Rebuild score tables from the clusters and labels in the WJ V manual.
4. Prepare language for re-evaluations that include WJ IV history.
5. Label templates by edition and review leftover "IV" references.
6. Read Riverside's remote administration study and manual guidance before testing remotely.

Where PsychReport Fits

PsychReport supports the WJ V among 290+ assessments. Enter scores from Riverside Score or upload the score report to pre-fill them for your review, then add background information and observations. PsychReport produces a narrative draft in your own report structure. It does not score the test or make diagnoses. You review and edit every draft and sign the report.

Practitioners save 4 or more hours per report. The BAA is self-service, AI processing uses Zero Data Retention (ZDR), data is encrypted with TLS 1.3 in transit and AES-256 at rest, and the platform is hosted on SOC 2 Type II certified infrastructure.

Try it on your next WJ V evaluation: start a free trial with 3 reports, no credit card required.