Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
What is Assessment ? 02
Significance of measuring IQ 04
Stanford-Binet Test 05
References 15
What is Assessment ?
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When you are about to test or assess someone’s characteristics or ability to cope with
things there is a need to know first that what assessment is meant for or what are the prime
methods to assess someone.
Definition:
Brief Explanation:
Written:
Written tests are tests that are administered on paper or on a computer (as an Exam). A
test taker who takes a written test could respond to specific items by writing or typing within a
given space of the test or on a separate form or document. It further includes multiple choice,
alternative response, matching type, completion type, essay, mathematical questions or open note
tests.
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Oral:
Oral assessment tests are not taken on a paper sheet or computer. The test taker could
respond to specific questions only through oral speech. It includes physical fitness test and
performance tests.
The Results:
The results of the different tests you take during an assessment by themselves are not
decisive in determining the final outcome of the assessment. Combined with the results
of interviews, practical assignments and role plays they form the end result. The results will be
reflected in the assessment report, which the candidate can always inspect first.
IQ stands for ‘Intelligence Quotient’ and is a numerical score based on standardized tests
which attempt to measure intelligence. Originally the concept of intelligence scale was
developed by Binet-Simon, the term ‘intelligence quotient’ was first coined in 1912 by German
psychologist, William Stern based on the test developed by Binet-Simon. The original formula
for calculating IQ was:
(Mental age divided by Physical age) x 100
The score of the IQ tells the level of intelligence. However, it is important to remember
that IQ tests are only one measure of intelligence. Many experts suggest that other important
elements contribute to intelligence, including social and emotional factors.
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Standardized intelligence testing has been called one of psychology's greatest successes.
It is certainly one of the field's most persistent and widely used inventions. Since Alfred Binet
first used a standardized test to identify learning-impaired Parisian children in the early 1900s, it
has become one of the primary tools for identifying children with mental retardation and learning
disabilities. It has helped the U.S. military place its new recruits in positions that suit their skills
and abilities. And, since the administration of the original Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)--
adapted in 1926 from an intelligence test developed for the U.S. Army during World War I--it
has spawned a variety of aptitude and achievement tests that shape the educational choices of
millions of students each year. In general, intelligence tests measure a wide variety of human
behaviors better than any other measure that has been developed. They allow professionals to
have a uniform way of comparing a person's performance with that of other people who are
similar in age. These tests also provide information on cultural and biological differences among
people.
Intelligence tests are excellent predictors of academic achievement and provide an outline
of a person's mental strengths and weaknesses. Many times the scores have revealed talents in
many people, which have led to an improvement in their educational opportunities. Teachers,
parents, and psychologists are able to devise individual curriculum that matches a person's level
of development and expectations.
The goal of intelligence tests is to obtain an idea of the person's intellectual potential. The
tests center around a set of stimuli designed to yield a score based on the test maker's model of
what makes up intelligence. Intelligence tests are often given as a part of a battery of tests.
There are hundreds of intelligence tests today used in educational, clinical and other settings. The
development of intelligence test has made considerable progress in understanding individual
differences.
In 1904, when psychology was just emerging as an independent field, members of the
Paris school board approached Alfred Binet with an interesting request: Could he develop an
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objective method for identifying children who were mentally retarded, so that they could be
removed from the regular classroom and given special education? Binet was already at work on
related topics, so he agreed, enlisting the aid of his colleague, Theodore Simon.
In designing this test Binet and Simon were guided by the belief that the items used
should be ones children could answer without special training or study. They felt that this was
important because the test should measure the ability to handle intellectual tasks--not specific
knowledge acquired in school. To attain this goal, Binet and Simon decided to use items of two
basic types: ones so new or unusual that none of the children would have prior exposure to them,
and ones so familiar that almost all youngsters would have encountered them in the past. For
example, children were asked to perform the following tasks:
Follow simple commands or imitate simple gestures.
Name objects shown in pictures.
Repeat a sentence of fifteen words.
Tell how two common objects are different.
Complete sentences begun by the examiner.
The first The first version of Binet and Simon's test was published in 1905 and contained
thirty items. Much to the two authors' pleasure, it was quite effective: With its aid, schools could
readily identify children in need of special help. Encouraged by this success, Binet and Simon
broadened the scope of their test to measure variations in intelligence among all children. This
revised version, published in 1908, grouped items by age, with six items at each level between
three and thirteen years. Items were placed at a particular age level if about 75 percent of
children of that age could pass them correctly.
Binet's tests were soon revised and adapted for use in many countries. In the United
States, Lewis lerman, a psychologist at Stanford University, developed the Stanford-Binet test, a
test that was soon put to use in many different settings. Over the years the Stanford-Binet has
been revised several times. One of the features of the Stanford-Binet that contributed to its
popularity was the fact that it yielded a single score assumed to reflect an individual's level of
intelligence, the now famous (some would say infamous) IQ.
120–129 Superior
90–109 Average
A recent version of Stanford Binet test yields a rating of overall intelligence that is based
on scores of four types of mental activity: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, abstract
visual reasoning and short term memory scores on each of these components are based on
subtests designed to measure more specific mental abilities.
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David Wechsler of Bellevue Hospital in New York in 1939 published the Wechsler-
Bellevue Intelligence Scale, which combined verbal with non-verbal or performance sub-tests.
Wechsler test is an individual test. In 1949, he developed Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children (WISC) and revised it in 1974. The WISC-R is for children aged six to sixteen years
eleven months. Wechsler also published Wechsler Pre-primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) in
1967 for use with children aged four to six and a half years.
The scales fall into two major categories: the verbal scale and the performance scale.
These are comprised of number of sub-tests. The verbal scale tests measure levels of functioning
using previously learned verbal material. It consists of :
Verbal Scale :
The performance scale tests how the testee fares with relatively new and novel material
practically rather than verbally. Most of the items are times, with bonus points for quick and
successful performance. The tests include;
Performance Scale :
Block Design: Examinees attempt to duplicate designs made with red and white blocks.
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The results from these tests are presented as a verbal IQ, a performance IQ, and a full-
scale IQ. In addition, for each area there is a profile of five or six sub-tests. Score of each test
and variation in sub-tests reveals important meaning to the psychologists (e.g., In picture
arrangement test - which is like comic-strip-type pictures that must be arranged from a standard
presentation to tell a story – tests sequential thinking and the understanding of social situation).
Psychologists use sub-test result (also full scale test result) as an exceptional opportunity to
observe behavior and thought processes of the testee. Wechsler discarded the original IQ
equation and brought in the new idea of ‘deviation’ IQs based upon scaled scores.
Wechsler has looked at a broad spectrum of mental ability and provide profiles based
upon deviation IQ, and scaled scores. He regarded intelligence in a unitary manner but preferred
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to think in terms of a whole array of abilities. Wechsler scale is widely used in education and
clinical sector. In clinical setting, the test is also used to identify the part of brain dysfunction.
Designed for children aged 5 through 11 years-of-age, the elderly, and mentally and
physically impaired individuals. This test contains sets A and B from the standard matrices, with
a further set of 12 items inserted between the two, as set Ab. Most items are presented on a
colored background to make the test visually stimulating for participants. However the very last
few items in set B are presented as black-on-white; in this way, if a subject exceeds the tester's
expectations, transition to sets C, D, and E of the standard matrices is eased.
The SIT-R3 can be used by Psychologists and Guidance Counselors to help determine
whether further in-depth evaluation is needed, providing a tentative diagnosis of cognitive ability
or confirming other findings as part of a comprehensive battery.
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It has been constructed so that the administration and scoring of the test occur
simultaneously, thus enabling the test to be given in a brief period of time. Although the SIT-R3
cannot be administered to groups, individual administration overcomes shortcomings of other
group tests.
The SIT-R3 does not penalize individuals who are extra careful, methodical, fearful and
easily upset under pressure of speed, poorly motivated, uncooperative, misunderstanding the
importance of the task at hand, or have reading handicaps.
1. General Information (GI) - reflects the learning of cultural knowledge, much of which is
not explicitly or directly taught (29 items).
2. Comprehension (CO) - a cognitive domain testing one’s knowledge of social behavior,
“common sense” and ability to interpret sayings and proverbs (33 items).
3. Quantitative (QN) - the ability to do mental calculations, remember the essential
numbers, determine the arithmetic process needed to calculate the correct answers (34
items).
4. Similarities & Differences (SD) - testing one’s skill in determining common attributes of
two dissimilar things or concepts and some uncommon attributes (30 items).
5. Vocabulary (VO) - the ability to use, understand and define words orally.
Communication skills are dependent on vocabulary ability (33 items).
6. Auditory Memory (AM) - ability to remember and repeat a random series of digits
correctly, both forward and backward, as well as several sentences (28 items)
The Differential Ability Scales (DAS) is a nationally normed (in the US), and
individually administered battery of cognitive and achievement tests. Currently into its second
edition (DAS-II), the test can be administered to children ages 2 years 6 months to 17 years 11
months across a range of developmental levels.
recognition and matching, processing and naming speed, phonological processing, and
understanding of basic number concepts.
The subtests are grouped into the Early Years and School-Age cognitive batteries with
subtests that are common to both batteries and those that are unique to each battery. These
batteries provide the General Conceptual Ability score (GCA), which is a composite score
focusing on reasoning and conceptual abilities.
The Early Years core battery includes verbal, nonverbal, and spatial reasoning subtests
appropriate for ages 2 years 6 months to 6 years 11 months.
There are three optional diagnostic subtests - Recall of Objects Immediate and Delayed,
Recall of Digits Forward, and Recognition of Pictures. There are also two optional diagnostic
clusters: working memory and processing speed.
The School-Age core battery contains subtests that can be used to assess children ages 7
years to 17 years 11 months. These subtests measure verbal, nonverbal reasoning, and spatial
reasoning abilities. The subtests can also be used to assess children ages 5 years to 6 years 11
months who may be cognitively gifted. In addition there are up to nine diagnostic subtests for
this age group that feed into three possible diagnostic cluster scores: working memory,
processing speed and, for the youngest ages, school readiness.
The KABC-II has 18 subtests of two types: core and supplementary. Before testing the
examiner decides which model to follow: Luria or CHC. The subtests are grouped into 4 or 5
scales depended on the age and interpretive model chosen. Luria’s model consists of four scales:
Sequential Processing Scale, Simultaneous processing Scale, Learning Ability and Planning
Ability. CHC model renames these: Short Term Memory (Gsm), Visual Processing (Gv), Long
Term Storage and Retrieval (Glr) and Fluid Reasoning (Gf) plus an additional 5th scale
Crystallised Ability (Gc).
Simultaneous/Gv
Sequential/Gsm
Word Order: The assessor reads the names of common objects, the child the touches a series
of silhouettes of these objects in the same order they were read out in.
Number Recall: The assessor reads a string of numbers and the child repeats the string in the
same order. The strings range from 2 to 9 digits.
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Hand Movements: the child copies a series of taps the examiner makes on the table with the
fist, palm or side of the hand.
Planning/Gf
Pattern Reasoning (ages 7–18): the child is shown a series of stimulus that form a logical
linear pattern with one stimulus missing. The child selects the missing stimulus from several
options.
Story Completion (ages 7–18): the child is shown a row of pictures that tell a story, some
pictures are missing. The child selects several pictures from a selection that are needed to
complete the story and places them in the correct location.
Riddles: the examiner says several characteristics of a concrete or abstract verbal concept,
and the child has to point to it or name it.
Expressive Vocabulary: measures the Childs ability to say the correct names of objects and
illustrations.
Verbal Knowledge: the child selects from an array for 6 pictures the one that corresponds to
a vocabulary word or answers a general information question.
KABC-II yields two general intelligence composite scores: Mental Processing Index
(MPI; Luria’s model) and Fluid-Crystallized Index (FCI; CHC model). The Luria model takes
25–60 minutes to administer while the CHC model takes 30–75 minutes to administer depending
on the child’s age.
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References
Stanford-Binet intelligence scale retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford
%E2%80%93Binet_Intelligence_Scales
& “Psychology by Robert A Baron 4th Edition
WISC retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/wechsler-intelligence-
scale-for-children
Raven’s progressive matrices retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven
%27s_Progressive_Matrices
Differential Disability scales retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_Ability_Scales