Parents often want to know about the relationship between the ERB and the WPPSI. Parents of pre-schoolers in New York City often ask, “Is it possible to prep my child for his/her ERB.” So, what is the relationship between the ERB and WPPSI? ”The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) is an intelligence test designed for children ages 2 years 6 months to 7 years 3 months developed by David Wechsler in 1967. It is a descendent of the earlier Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children tests. Since its original publication the WPPSI has been revised twice in 1989 and 2002 followed by the UK version in 2003. The current version, WPPSI–III, published by Harcourt Assessment, is a revision of the WPPSI-R (Wechsler, 1989). It provides subtest and composite scores that represent intellectual functioning in verbal and performance cognitive domains, as well as providing a composite score that represents a child’s general intellectual ability (i.e., Full Scale IQ)
The WPPSI can be used in several ways, for example:
As an assessment of general intellectual functioning.
As part of an assessment to identify intellectual giftedness.
To identify cognitive delay and learning difficulties”
(wikipedia.org/wiki/Wechsler_Preschool_and_Primary_Scale_of_Intelligence, 2011).
The ERB
ERB stands for Educational Records Bureau. It is the company that provides admissions and assessment services to schools. Examples of admission tests provided by ERB are:
ECAA, Early CHildhood Admission Assessment.
ISEE, Independent School Admission Assessment.
“ERB is the only not-for-profit member educational services organization offering assessments for both admission and achievement for independent and selective public schools for PreK-grade 12 — including interpretation support services and links to next steps instruction.” (erblearn.org/ 2011)
So, what is the relation between the WPSSI and ERB? The WPPSI is a test used by ERB in their admission testing. When your pre-school child takes the “ERB” to get into a prep school like Collegiate, The Dalton School, Trinity School, The Town School, and Brearley School he/she is actually taking the WPPSI or something very similar.
Tricia Striano, Ph.D.