This article briefly reviews the history of intellectual assessment of children and youth in the United States of America, as well as current practices and future directions. Although administration of intelligence tests in the schools has been a longstanding practice in the United States, their use has also elicited sharp controversy over time.…

Historians have documented the dramatic battle over the mass introduction of IQ testing waged by Chicago's unionised teachers in 1924 against Superintendent McAndrew and the Chicago Board of Education. The efforts of Chicago's mid-level district administrators and their work with principals and teachers to address the real and perceived…

It is almost self-evident that test results will be unreliable and misleading if those undergoing assessments do not make a full effort on testing. Nevertheless, objective tests of effort have not typically been used with young adults to determine whether test results are valid or not. Because of the potential economic and/or recreational benefits…

Psychologist Robert J. Sternberg's conviction that American standardized testing does not accurately reflect a child's intelligence or potential is far from theoretical. As an elementary school student in the 1950s, he scored poorly on the ubiquitous IQ test of the time, freezing up when the school psychologist entered the room. Thankfully for…

This fact sheet provides answers to frequently asked questions about psychological evaluations for infants, children and adults who are deaf-blind, we hope to clarify the evaluation process and the active roles that may be taken by everyone who is involved--family members, professionals, educators, and the student. Finally, by discussing quality…

How did standardized tests become the measure of performance in our public schools? In this compelling work, Mark J. Garrison attempts to answer this question by analyzing the development of standardized testing, from the days of Horace Mann and Alfred Binet to the current scene. Approaching the issue from a sociohistorical perspective, the author…

Intelligence testing is an important part of any individualized education plan; however, a verbal test measure may not be appropriate for the child with a physical disability, visual impairment, and/or the inability to speak. A child with a physical disability may not be able to point accurately or build a tower with blocks; a child with a visual…

Implications for gifted education of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) are discussed. The rationale for using the K-ABC with this population is explained; special administrative features are noted; results of research with the gifted are cited; and practical implications (including its use with gifted minority students) are…

Measuring student intelligence has been problematic in the United States since standardized testing first began in the early 1900s. The omnipresence of standardized testing in student populations is illustrated by the most popular contemporary tests which are used by some scholars to advance the notion that intelligence differences between whites…

Disadvantages of traditional intelligence tests with handicapped children are discussed, and an alternative approach, The "Assessment of Basic Competencies" (ABC) is presented. The background and design of the ABC and the three domains of the model (language skills, math reasoning skills, and information processing skills) are…

Reports on a study designed to measure the various learning abilities of nine-year-old German children as observed during one year of English instruction. Describes a battery of special tests administered to the students during the experimental year and discusses results obtained through correlation analyses. (MES)

Presents a class activity, in which students take two tests, that requires minimal preparation and encourages discussion on important aspects of testing, such as testing bias. Describes the procedure. Includes the two tests and the answers. (CMK)

Focuses on the issue of intelligence testing within Scotland during the 1920's and 1930's. Addresses the reasons why Scotland delayed the use of intelligence tests for selection for secondary education, even though the conditions seemed to have been ideal for the adoption of intelligence testing. (CMK)

Discusses differential and information processing theories of intelligence and the problems of measuring intelligence. Considers the influence of sociocultural factors on the test performance of individuals and the procedures which have been suggested to reduce bias. (RJC)

This article presents an interview with Professor Alan Davies who was born in Wales, studied at Oxford University and Birmingham University, and taught in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh, completing 40 years this year. Professor Davies has travelled widely to give invited talks and seminars, participate in applied linguistics conferences,…