Between 1946 and 1956, the Swedish Psychological and Pedagogical Institute (SPPI) organised several summer courses for the purpose of training teachers in intelligence testing. The aim of the courses was to make these teachers the first gatekeepers who would meet and direct the youngest pupils into ordinary classes or into special classes. This…

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.…

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…

The rigors of standardized testing make for numerous opportunities for examiner error, including simple computational mistakes in scoring. Although experts recommend that test scoring be double-checked, the extent to which independent double-checking would reduce scoring errors is not known. A double-checking procedure was established at a…

In many developed cultures there is an assumption that IQ is intelligence. However, emerging theories of multiple intelligences, of emotional intelligence, as well as the application of IQ testing to other cultural groups, and to people with disability, raises many questions as to what IQ actually measures. Despite recent research that shows IQ…

At a time when, in most countries, the profession of school psychology is experiencing a period of growth and expansion, many problems still remain. The origins of these problems are linked to the historical development of the profession which has provided school psychologists with a unique and distinctive role in administering IQ tests and using…

IQ test scores should be corrected for high stakes decisions that employ these assessments, including capital offense cases. If scores are not corrected, then diagnostic standards must change with each generation. Arguments against corrections, based on standards of practice, information present and absent in test manuals, and related issues,…

Research on children's counterproductive test behavior supports a three-factor model for behaviors: inattentiveness, avoidance, and uncooperative mood. In this study, test behaviors measured by the Guide to the Assessment of Test Session Behaviors (GATSB) are rated on a sample of 110 Hispanic Spanish-speaking children included in the Wechsler…

Examined the extent of examiner error during administration of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) by practicing school psychologists and school psychology students eligible for state certification as psychometrists. A number of examiner item scoring and administration errors were observed for numerous subtests. (RC)

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…

Critically analyzes selected intelligence test items from commonly used standardized tests. (DW)

A QUALITATIVE AND CLINICAL ANALYSIS OF COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING WAS DETERMINED BY ADMINISTRATION OF THE STANDFORD-BINET INTELLIGENCE SCALE AND THE WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR CHILDREN TO A SAMPLE OF 65 NORMAL CHILDREN. EXAMINATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS WERE MADE FOR EACH CHILD DURING HIS INFANCY, PRESCHOOL, LATENCY, AND PREPUBERTY PERIODS. ANALYSIS…

The main purpose of this investigation was to study the impact of kindergarten upon the IQ test performance of young children. Results indicate that kindergarten experience has a positive influence upon test performance. (Author)

Evaluated the ability of the Wonderlic Personnel Test to replicate the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) with (N=120) normal persons divided into principal and cross-validation groups. Correlations between the Wonderlic IQs and the WAIS Full Scale IQs were .93 for the main group and .91 for the cross-validation group. (Author)