The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is a standardized test that assesses intelligence and cognitive abilities. Intelligence is "a concept intended to explain why some people perform better than others on cognitive tasks. Intelligence is defined as "the mental abilities needed to select, adapt to, and shape environments. It involves the abilities to profit from experience, solve problems, reason, and successfully meet challenges and achievement goals. Intelligence tests began as a psychologist's solution to a problem faced by Paris schools at the beginning of the century. Alfred Binet, a French psychologist, developed a test to measure potential ability at school tasks rather than performance in school, and to produce the same scores regardless of the personalities or prejudices of those who gave or took the test. The scoring method originally used by Binet and his collaborator, Theodore Simon, was based on the concept of mental age or MA (the chronological age typical of a given level of performance). For the average child, mental age and chronological age are equal or a match. For example, a child who is 10 years of age has a mental age of 10. But some children who have less intelligence than average will not be able to pass all the items suitable to their age level and thus will show an MA that are lower than their CA. To measure mental age, Binet and Simon developed varied reasoning and problem-solving questions that might predict school achievement. Louis Terman (professor at Stanford University) attempted to use Binet's test, but realized that items developed for Parisians did not provide a satisfactory standard for evaluating American children and he revised and standardized the new version of the test (he establi... ... middle of paper ... ...tributes.) Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes- Within each age group, the Stanford-Binet tests assign any person a score according to how much that person's performance deviates above or below the average. Reliability (extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test or on retesting)- Comparing test scores to those of the standardizing group still won't tell us much about the individual unless the test has reliability. Validity is the most important requirement of all. A test must actually measure what it is intended to measure. (Content validity-the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest and Predictive validity- the success with which a test predicts behavior it is designed to predict)
The Bell Curve is a book originally published in 1994. It was written by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray to explain the variations of intelligence in American Society. They accomplished this by using statistical analysis, for the purpose of raising warnings regarding the consequences of the intelligence gap. This was also made to propose a national social policy with the goal of mitigating bad consequences that have been attributed to this intelligence gap. Much of the information is widely considered controversial. An example of this is the low African-American scores compared to whites and Asians, and genetic factors in intelligence abilities. The introduction of the book starts with a brief history of intelligence theory and recent developments in intelligence thought and testing. The author creates six assumptions that has to do with the validity of the “classical” cognitive testing techniques.
Presumably, the most widely known of these measures has been the Scholastic Aptitude Test (now the SAT Reasoning Test, or SAT). Developed by the Educational Testing Service after World War II, the test in many ways was the big idea of James Bryant Conant. Adhering to democratic, classless society, Conant thought that such tests could identify the ability of individuals and ultimately help to equalize educational opportunities (Frontline, 1999). Unfortunately, many have argued that instead of fostering equality, the SATs have become an instrument to separate the social classes, and many in the testing movement were not as magnanimous as James Bryant Conant.
Age-equivalent scored also do not represent children who scored extremely high and extremely low on the given test. Age-equivalent scores are not estimated for the extreme scores at either end of the spectrum. Children that fall within these ranges are given a generalized age-equivalent score of below the lowest age derived or above the highest age. This results in inadequate information for all individuals that scores are reflected on these parts of the
Smith, M. (2010). Why NOT a National Test for Everyone. Kappan, 1. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from www.pdkintl.org
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
Similar to Sternberg, Binet came to the conclusion that intelligence is the sum of mental processes (Flangan, Harrison, 2005). He developed the first intelligence test in order to categorize how much children benefitted from school education. The Binet-Simon scale, keeping in mind that Binet believed in intelligence consisting of different components, thus included language component, auditory processing, learning and memory, as well as judgement and problem solving (Kamin, 1974). The results were supposed to identify the student’s mental age. Lewis Terman introduced the Binet-Simon test to America and adapted it to sort army recruits in World War I (Comer et al., 2013). The Stanford-Binet test, developed by Terman in 1916, aimed to be an improved version that was able to measure mental age more appropriately (Kamin, 1974). He was convinced that intelligence is the ability to form concepts and to think abstract (Comer et al., 2013). The Stanford-Binet test has been described by Maud Minton to be superior to other intelligence tests of that time because it was very precise, it had detailed guidelines, it measured the IQ which became the standard marking system (Flangan, Harrison,
Albert Einstein once stated, “not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” High-stakes testing attempts to determine the knowledge a person has obtained throughout grades K-12. These standardized tests are being used to judge a person’s ability to graduate from high school and also judge if a child has enough knowledge to proceed to the next grade level. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing how these tests do not accurately portray one’s intelligence, how they have increased drop out rates, and also show the damaging psychological affects they have had.
How many of us really believe that a child's intelligence, achievement, and confidence can be represented adequately by standardized tests? How can any distribution curve classify all children? What about all we have learned about children?s growth and their response to education? Few teachers and parents would accept that a single test score could define any child (Russel, 2002). We must ask if these tests address the educational concerns of teachers and parents and do they provide useful information about individual children or the class. Almost all teachers feel pressure to teach to the tests and feel that tests clearly limit educational possibilities for students (Russel, 2002). We feel it is detrimental to a child's education to enjoy reading. An article reported by the BBC news (2003) entitle...
Standardized testing is a deeply flawed system. The American government continues to throw money at a program that has little or no hope of achieving the goals it set at its inception. The important message is that no test is valid for all purposes and “high stakes” decisions should not be made on the basis of a single test score. Test scores provide only a small picture of student achievement or potential (APA 2014).
The field of psychology has continuously endeavored to find an appropriate method in evaluating intelligence. The Stanford-Binet intelligence test is one of pioneering tests created to measure facets of intelligence, and it is still being utilized today (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997). Weschler created several intelligence tests focusing on age range in relation to intelligence (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997). While these tests are staples in the psychological testing community, there are many criticisms of intelligence testing. One such criticism is the absence of race and culture as influential factors of intelligence (Carroll, 2010).
One of the most definitive things ever said regarding the nature of intelligence was that intelligence is whatever IQ tests measure. The IQ test has been in use throughout the 20th century and serves as an accepted measure of a person’s intelligence. It is used by institutions such as schools and the army to screen people’s level of intelligence and decisions are made based on that. The IQ test consists of a series of questions regarding certain skills such as vocabulary, mathematics, spatial relations. The scores that a person gets on these tests depend on the amount of questions that a person answers correctly. The actual score that a person gets is dependant on how others in that age group do on those particular questions.
On the ‘nature’ side of the debate is the psychometric approach, considered to be the most dominant in the study of intelligence, which “inspired the most research and attracted the most attention” (Neisser et al. 1996, p. 77). It argues that there is one general (‘g’) factor which accounts for intelligence. In the 1880s, Francis Galton conducted many tests (measuring reaction times to cognitive tasks), (Boundless 2013), in order to scientifically measure intelligence. These tests were linked to the eugenic breeding programme, which aimed to eliminate biologically inferior people from society. Galton believed that as intelligence was inherited, social class or position were significant indicators of intelligence. If an individual was of high social standing, they would be more intelligent than those of a lower position. However he failed to show any consistency across the tests for this hypothesis, weakening his theory that social class correlated with intelligence. Nevertheless, his creation of the intelligence test led many to continue to develop...
Standardized Achievement tests are often administered to give a perspective on how well students perform, however, most educators fail to understand that they are only limited to a certain r...
One of the reasons why standardized tests are used is for measuring a child’s scholastic performance. But how accurately do they do this? A standardized test is made up of consistent questions and procedures for scoring and administration. They are always made according to identical rules so the procedures are the same for everybody who takes the tests. They come in many forms: on paper, on computer, questionnaires, etc. These tests are very contentious because many people have different opinions about them. Some critics feel that the tests help parents and teachers act as guides to assist students on expanding their knowledge in a particular subject. They are also needed to enter Ivy- League schools which further explains why international schools and schools in the United States take them. However, most do argue that these tests do not take into consideration a child’s traits and what the child can give. The tests judge students based on their performance on that day, not on their growth as educational participants, and places many in stressful situations due to the amount of studying needed to prepare for the tests. Standardized tests give scores that predict how “smart” a person is, although intelligence comes in many forms. To a large extent, standardized testing is not an effective way of measuring a child’s intellectual potential because it focuses mainly on the performance instead of the child’s growth and it doesn’t take into account the child’s personality and what they have to give. On the other hand, they can be necessary because they act as guides to help parents and teachers aid children on what they don’t have knowledge on in a specific subject.
Psychologists have differed on the definition for intelligence and how to measure intelligence. In this paper the definition of intelligence and how it is measured will be discussed by comparing and contrasting the two intelligence tests and two achievement tests chosen from the Mental Measurement Yearbook. The intelligence tests chosen were the Primary Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (PTONI) and the Test of Memory and Learning, 2nd ed., (TOMAL-2) and the achievement tests chosen were the Basic Achievement Skills Inventory (BASI) and the Differential Ability Scales, 2nd ed. (DAS-II). The measures of the intelligence tests will be evaluated for reliability, validity, normative procedure, and bias, and then compared with the achievement tests.