Using Cognitive Ability Scores to Design Instruction
  • Home
  • Intelligence Testing
  • Children's IQ Tests
    • WISC-IV
    • KABC-II
    • DAS-II
    • WJ-III Cog
    • SB5
  • CHC Broad Factors
    • Gc - Crystallized Ability/Knowledge
    • Gf - Fluid Reasoning
    • Gsm -- Short-Term Memory
    • Glr - Long-Term Retrieval
    • Gs - Processing Speed
    • Gv - Visual Reasoning
    • Ga - Auditory Processing
    • Gq - Quantitative Reasoning
    • Grw - Reading and Writing
  • Case Studies and Review
  • References

Overview of Intelligence Testing

Picture
The Bell Curve
Intelligence tests, more commonly known as IQ tests, compare an individual's performance on a given task to the range of observed scores of same-age peers on the same task. This is known as norm-referencing - comparing one person's score to the scores of people within a sample population in the same age group. All norm-referenced psychoeducational tests use a normal distribution - the Bell Curve -  to determine student scores.

The normal distribution is based on the fact that most people's performance on a given task will be similar to one other and will fall within one standard deviation of the mean (average) score.

Within a general population, 68% of scores will fall within one standard deviation of a mean score. This is typically considered the Average range. Children who have a standard score below 85 or a T-score below 40 on a component of an IQ test are generally considered to be relatively weak in that area as compared to same-age peers.

Key Terms:


Percentile rank - the percentage of individuals within a given age group who performed the same or better than the student


Standard score - mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15

Scale score
 - mean of 10 and standard deviation of 3

T-score
 - mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.