In defining intelligence, there has always been the question of whether intelligence is

measured as a remarkable occurrence or if it has many variables that are combined. For
example, is it how “smart” a person is? Or is it their ability to perform well on
standardized tests? Are they measuring a person’s intelligence? Or just some arbitrary
quantity of the person’s IQ? Or is it a mixture of survival, mathematical, social and other
abilities. There are many debates regarding whether measuring intelligence is determined
from test scores and results, or if it is measured by the person’s ability to process and
problem solve. Uses of intelligence testing in an educational setting, intelligence and
achievement tests are administered routinely to assess individual accomplishment. They
are used to improve instruction and curriculum planning. High schools use these tests to
assist in the students future educational planning and help decide what college or type of
college to attend. Elementary schools utilize screening and testing procedures to help
determine readiness for writing and reading placement. Intelligence can be measured, by
intelligence tests, among them the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler
Scale. These tests are intended to determine an individual’s intelligence quotient (IQ).
Intelligence tests usually provide an estimate of global cognitive functioning as well as
information about functioning within more specific domains. Intelligence tests are quite
stable compared to measures of other human traits. However, the degree of stability
increases with age such that early childhood and preschool measures of intellectual
function are far less predictive of later functioning than assessments taken during middle
childhood. The stability of intelligence test scores may change as a function due to
important environmental factors. Therefore, intelligence test scores are descriptive of a
child’s functioning at that point in time when taking a test. The test scores could also be
effected by environmental factors, child’s psychiatric status or educational program. IQ
TESTING AND GROUPING 3 Components of a good intelligence test are (a) Validity;
does the test really measure intelligence and not something else? (b) Reliability; does the
test produce consistent measures? (c) Norms; are the participants being fairly compared?
Components that make an intelligence test flawed are (a) Poor validity; tests may be
sensitive to social factors. (b) Poor norms; comparing people who are different. (c) Poor
application; tests measure something that the school or job has nothing to do with.
Theories of Process Psychometric Model Psychometric approach is defined as
psychology that deals with the design, administration, and interpretation of quantitative
tests for the measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence, aptitude, and
personality traits. There are various psychometric approaches to intelligence. The
following paragraphs describe three different theorists and their psychometric model.
First is Charles Spearman, who believed that intelligence is a combination of two parts.
According to his two-factory theory of intelligence, the performance of any intellectual
act requires some combination of g, (general intelligence factor) which is available to the
same individual to the same degree for all intellectual acts. (Specific factors) or s is
specific to that act and varies in strength from one act to another. S is specific knowledge
such as verbal reasoning or spatial problem solving. Spearman equated g with mental
energy. If one knows how a person performs on one task that is highly saturated with g,
one can safely predict a similar level of performance for another highly g saturated task.
The prediction of performance on tasks with high s factors is less accurate. Thus, the
most important information to have about a person’s intellectual ability is an estimate of
their g or mental energy (Plucker 1989). Guilford’s theory includes 150 abilities,
arranged in three dimensions; contents, operations, and products. Guilford’s three-
dimensional Structure of Intellect classified intellectual acts into 120 separate categories.
These categories are operations dimension, products dimension and material IQ
TESTING AND GROUPING 4 or content dimension. He developed firm convictions
regarding the ability of individual difference among people. Guilford believed that
intelligence is much too complicated to be subsumed by a few primary mental abilities
and g factor. His systematic theory gave rise to what is known as informational-
operational psychology. Information-Processing Informational theorists believe human
cognition is best understood as the management of information through a system with
limited space or resources (Bukato and Daehler 1998). Thurstone’s theory is based on
seven primary mental abilities. In the area of intelligence, his theory maintains that
intelligence is made up of several primary mental abilities rather than just the g and s
factors. He was among the first to purpose and demonstrate that there are numerous ways
in which a person can be intelligent. Thurstone’s Multiple-Factors Theory identified these
seven primary mental abilities; Verbal Comprehension, Associative Memory, Word
Fluency, Number Facility, Reasoning, Spatial Visualization, and Perceptual Speed.
Thurstone’s theory has been used to construct intelligence tests that yield a profile of the
individual’s performance on each of the ability tests, rather than general that yield a
single score such as an IQ. Two theorists that promote informational processing models
are Sternberg and Gardner. Sternberg’s triarchic theory consists of three parts; cognitive
components of intelligence, experience and intelligence, and context of intelligence. They
are divided into three major sub-theories: Componential is encoding, combining and
comparing stimuli, and evaluating one own performance. Contextual is the adaptation to
one’s environment. One of Sternberg’s most important contributions to intelligence
theory has been the redefinition of intelligence to incorporate practical knowledge. As
Sternberg insists, “real life is where intelligence operates’ and not in the classroom…The
true IQ TESTING AND GROUPING 5 measure of success is not how well one does in
school, but how well one does in life (Trosky, 1998)”. Dr. Howard Garner believed that
intelligence is the ability to find and solve problems and create products of value in one’s
own culture. Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence (MI) maintains that people often
show marked individual differences in their ability to process specific kinds of
information (Bukato and Daehler 1998). Gardner originally identified seven such
faculties, which he labeled as “intelligences”: Linguistic, Musical, Logico-Mathematical,
Spatial, Intra-personal, Inter-personal, and Bodily Kinesthetic. Multiple intelligences
theory, is a polarized way of understanding their intellect. Recent advances in cognitive
science, developmental psychology and neuroscience suggest that each person’s level of
intelligence is actually made up of autonomous faculties that can work individually or in
concert with other faculties. Interpreting and Grouping Methods have three common
methods for reporting performance on tests are developmental, percentiles and standard
scores. The most common is developmental scores, which are sometimes classified as
“mental age” and “grade equivalents,” although many tests provide age-equivalent
scores. Many schools show reaching of goals and objectives by utilizing these types of
test scores. The strength within developmental scores are that the result is descriptive,
meaning it can clearly show the difference in a score. For example hearing that Bob has a
mental age of seven years, or a third grade reading level, provides what seems to be a
vivid picture of where Bob stands within the rest of the seven year olds. Percentile scores
provide an index of where one stands relative to others on a scale of 1 to 100. A score at
the first or 100th percentile does not mean that the person got all of the questions on the
test right or wrong. Percentile score mean that the individual performed worse or better
than everybody else in the comparison group. Nonetheless, like developmental scores the
unit of IQ TESTING AND GROUPING 6 measure varies across the range. There is
relatively little difference between scores at the 40th and 60th percentiles, but a 20 point
difference near either tail of the distribution will be substantial. Standard scores scales
have the advantage of being indicative of performance relative to others, but the unit of
measure remains constant across the range of scores. Standard score scales report scores
in standard deviation units from the normative sample’s mean. Thus, to interpret standard
scores, one must know the mean and standard deviation of the scale on which it is based
(Woodcock 1989). Grouping and Validity are one of the most important questions that
always come up regarding validity and reliability of these tools are what are the tests
really measuring? Are they measuring a person’s intelligence? What about their ability to
perform well on standardized tests? Is that alone, another measurement of their
intelligence? It is critical to examine the situations around which these tests are given. A
person may not have had lunch or breakfast, could possibly be ill that day or is having an
anxiety attack about taking the test. Many factors go into the test itself. Other major
factors are cultural backgrounds, parenting practices and the home environment are also
very important factors. To issue a truly standardized test, the testing environment should
be the same for everyone taking the test. No matter how carefully written, standardized
intelligence tests have particular cultural biases, and are almost always based on language
ability and mathematical prowess. These traits are important and desirable, but they may
not be the only factors in determining a person’s intelligence. Intelligence consists of
abilities necessary to adapt to the environment to achieve goals. Psychologists differ on
how they define intelligence and exactly which abilities comprise “intelligence.”
Intelligence testing provides standardized and objective measures that can be considered
useful for evaluating children and adolescents. IQ TESTING AND GROUPING 7
Intelligence testing reveals something about the person’s academic type and their general
mental abilities. Newer or recently developed test may be better equipped to encompass
all of the components necessary to evaluate a person’s intelligence level. It is important
to realize the biases, cultural differences and other factors that may interpret a score or
result. IQ tests that fail usually fall into two main groups. The first grouping is where the
tests assume too much. Examples of this flaw are the assumption that speed is always
good, vocabulary is a good indicator of intelligence, and that different test taking
environment won’t affect the outcome. The second grouping comes because the tests
gauge the wrong items. Examples of this are different culture groups being asked to take
the same tests as everyone else, and the fact that the tests ignore so many types of
intelligence (like social and physical). These two groupings illustrate where the major
failings of popular IQ tests occur and can be used as tools for judging others. IQ tests are
not good indicators for a person’s overall intelligence, but as their use has shown, they
are extremely helpful in making predictions about how a person will perform in an
academic setting. Perhaps the problem comes in the name intelligence tests when it is
obvious this is not what they really are. Keep in mind that the IQ tests of today definitely
has its applications in society, but the progress of a child depends on many factors and
should not be used to quantify their overall intelligence by any means.