THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPARISON TO THE NORM age norms

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THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPARISON TO THE NORM(age
norms)
Each childs performance on various skills(tasks)
is tested. A childs IQ is determined by
comparing the number of answers he/she got
correct on the tests to the average number of
correct answers for her/his age.
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HOW IS AN IQ SCORE CALCULATED?
The Original Formula
MA CA
IQ
(100)
IQ Intelligence Quotient CA The persons
actual age MA The age at which the persons
score was the average number correct.
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Today, this traditional means of IQ calculation
has been abandoned in favor of using STANDARDIZED
SCORES based upon the use of STANDARD DEVIATIONS.
The driving force behind all standardized tests
is the attainment of a NORMAL DISTRIBUTION of
scores (bell curve).
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A normal distribution is the basis for

• Calculating IQ scores
• Calculating percentiles
• (A percentile score indicates how many people
  scored lower than that person on the test.)
• Scores that lead to labels such as retarded and
  learning disabled

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THUS

A ( the?) MAJOR consideration for determining
what questions will appear on an IQ or any other
standardized test is whether or not that question
will contribute to achieving a normal
distribution of answers on the test.
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RETARDATION
On IQ tests

• Retardation is not a measure of reasoning
  ability or problem solving.
• Retardation is a statistical construct.
• Retardation means having an IQ score that is
  more than two standard deviations below the
  mean ( having an IQ under 70).

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RELIABILITY
If the score on the test is ACCURATE, the test is
reliable. There can be little doubt that these
tests are reliable.
VALIDITY
If the test measures what it CLAIMS TO BE
MEASURING, the test is valid. Many people have
grave doubts as to whether IQ tests are valid
mesures of ability.
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IQ (previous sub-tests)
PERFORMANCE IQ
VERBAL IQ

• Picture Completion
• Picture Arrangement
• Block Design
• Object Assembly
• Coding

• Information
• Similarities
• Arithmetic
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension

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IQ (new sub-tests)
9. Symbol Search 10. Picture completion 11.
Cancellation 12. Information 13. Arithmetic 14.
Comprehension 15. Word Reasoning

• Block Design
• Similarities
• Digit Span
• Picture concepts
• Coding
• Vocabulary
• Letter-number sequencing
• Matrix reasoning

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An examination of IQ tests reveals

• They are tests of achievement of various
  school type tasks.
• (That is why they correlate with school success
  predictive validity but not with creativity or
  with challenging thinking.)
• 2. They attempt to assess the quantitative number
  of correct answers a child gives compared to the
  norm for her/his age.

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Assumptions Made By IQ Tests(and why they are
problematic)
(See Furth Article in Think! pg.292)

• Age is a Valid Criterion
• People Have a Standard Environment
• 3. Performance is a Sufficient Measure
• 4. Scholastic Validity
• 5. Measures are Sufficiently Complete
• 6. All The Sub-Tests Measure The Same Underlying
  Ability
• 7. Test Taking Abilities are Equal.
• 8. IQ and Race (The BITCH Test)

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The Labeling Game

• LD
• Retarded
• Slow learner
• Etc.
• All of these labels are the result of scores on
  IQ and other standardized tests, not of measures
  of thinking or neurological testing.

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JUST BECAUSE YOUR DOCTOR HAS A NAME FOR YOUR
CONDITION, DOESNT MEAN HE KNOWS WHAT IT
IS. Franz Kafka
This is Kafkas way of warning us about circular
explanations.
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LEARNING DISABILITIES
Learning Disabilities are also a statistical
construct. A learning disability is determined
by subtracting a persons score on a standardized
achievement test from her/his IQ score.
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If the difference between the IQ score and the
Standardized Achievement test score is greater
than 15 (one standard deviation), the student is
considered to be learning disabled.
Student B IQ 101 SA 85 16 LD
Student A IQ 100 SA 86 14 Not LD
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If the number we get from this Subtraction is
greater than 15, then we are treated to a
whole host of
1. Circular Explanations or 2.
Unsubstantiated contentions about genetic damage
in order to explain why the child cannot learn
what we are teaching.
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The circular terms that are used in schools do
not tell WHY a child cannot perform a task. They
simply describe what the child cannot do in fancy
words.
Dyslexia
Trouble Reading Disease
Dyscalculia

Trouble Calculating Disease
Dysgraphia
Trouble Writing Disease

Etc. (Make up your own you may become famous.)
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Descriptions of the symptoms of a disease, no
matter how accurate, do NOT constitute a
diagnosis. Standardized Tests (both IQ and
achievement) describe what a child can and cannot
do (describe symptoms). They do NOT tell why the
child is performing as he/she is. Thus...
THEY ARE NOT DIAGNOSTIC!
(They are DESCRIPTIVE.)
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Vast amounts of time and money are spent labeling
children, but after we have the labels we know no
more about how to teach the child than we did
before the testing. When we dont know whats
wrong, we dont know what to do!! The
recommendations made by diagnosticians are not
based on any understanding of the childs
thinking, learning strategies, etc., because the
tests provide no such information.
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All the fancy names we have for diseases are
simply circular explanations.
Circular explanations that give fancy sounding
names to a disease do not constitute a diagnosis.
THEY DO NOT IDENTIFY ANY ETIOLOGY (CAUSE) FOR THE
SUPPOSED DISEASES THEY DESCRIBE.
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All failures are blamed on the child. We
maintain, without having any evidence to
substantiate our claim, that something must be
wrong with the student (generally in a sensory
modality). That is why s/he is not achieving.
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When we ignore science, and accept explanations
even though there is no evidence to support them,
then the floodgates are opened. Anyone is free
to offer any explanation without having the
burden of providing any evidence that it has
merit.

• Manipulate skull bones
• Read though colored paper
• Poke a hole in the paper and read
• around the edges
• Prescribe anti-dizziness medicine

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WHAT ABOUT
MEANING? UNDERSTANDING?
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If we are going to maintain that every time a
child does not learn it is his/her fault, then we
must make the following assumptions.
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1. There is a perfect system(s) to teach all
normal children. 2. We have perfect knowledge of
this system(s). 3. We always implement this
system(s) perfectly Therefore (Conclusion)
Any child who does not learn must be abnormal.
IF ANY OF THE PROPOSITIONS (1,2,3) IS NOT TRUE,
THEN THE CONCLUSION IS
NOT VALID!!
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Are we really perfect? Is it fair for the child
to be blamed every time s/he does not learn? Is
there no responsibility to examine what we do?
Is it moral do whatever we decide to do and
then say the child has a disease every time we do
not succeed?
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Or do we need to understand how children learn
and develop? Do we need to examine our teaching
practices ? Do we need to remember that each
child is an individual, and that it is our
responsibility to educate each one of them?
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THE PURPOSE OF SCHOOLS SHOULD BE TO EDUCATE
CHILDREN, NOT TO TEST, SORT, AND CONTROL
THEM. AND IN ORDER TO DO THIS WE NEED TO
UNDERSTAND HOW CHILDREN THINK, DEVELOP, AND LEARN.
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And That Will Be the Focus and Purpose of the
Rest of the Course.
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Age As A Criterion For Measuring Intelligence
IQ tests assume that chronological age is a valid
measure of intelligence.
Yet 100 years of studying child development has
made it abundantly clear that there are normal
variations in the speed at which normal children
learn and develop.
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Age As A Criterion For Measuring
Intelligence(cont.)
The speed of development is often not a reliable
predictor of final achievement. (Indeed, in many
cases speed has no predictive value whatsoever.)
By using chronological age as the standard by
which intelligence is measured, IQ tests use a
measure that research has shown to be invalid.
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Standard Environment
We have seen that many questions asked on the IQ
test (vocabulary, math problems, general
knowledge, etc.) test learned knowledge. In
order for these tests to be measures of innate
ability we must assume that everyone has had
equal exposure to the items on the test.
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Standard Environment (cont.)
But we know that childrens environments are NOT
the same they are NOT standard Since this is
obviously the case, how do we know whether a
childs answers reflect innate ability or the
amount of exposure he/she has had to items on the
test?
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Standard Environment (cont.)
In fact, it is probably impossible to sort out
how much knowledge a child has is due to
environment and how much is due to heredity.
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Scholastic Validity
In order to give any credence to IQ tests as a
measure of intelligence, one must assume that
they measure something important.
Do they??
Do you consider the questions asked on these
tests to be valid measures of intelligence?
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Scholastic Validity (cont.)
If your answer to that question is no, then you
have serious reservations about the validity of
these tests. You have serious doubts about
whether these tests measure what you mean by
intelligence. (Remember that when you are
teaching!!)
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Performance Sufficiency

• Does getting the right answer
• (performance) provide sufficient
• evidence for intelligence?

• Is intelligence only how much we
• know?

• Is there more to intelligence?

• Or is intelligence (mainly)
• something else altogether?

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Performance Sufficiency (cont.)
Many psychological theorists believe that
intelligence represents much more than the number
of right answers one can give to questions. HOW
we arrive at our answers (i.e., how we think) is
seen by many as the crucial element of
intelligence.
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Completeness of The Test
If we say these tests measure intelligence, then
they ought to measure everything that goes into
intelligence. Once again, do they?? Or are
there any abilities that these tests completely
fail to take into account? (E.g., music, art,
social skills, decision making abilities, etc.)
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All Sub-Tests Measure the Same Ability
Lets do some 5th grade math. We can only
average items that are.
ALIKE

• Averages of unrelated items have no meaning.
• 2. Items averaged must use the same units of
  measure.

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All Sub-Tests Measure the Same Ability (cont.)
Therefore, if we are going to average the scores
a person receives on the various IQ sub-tests, we
have to assume that all the test measure the same
entity. If the sub-tests measure different
constructs, then it makes no sense to average
them and compute a standard score.
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All Sub-Tests Measure the Same Ability (cont.)
Do you think that math tests, vocabulary tests,
general knowledge tests, tests of the ability to
do a puzzle, tests of the ability to build
designs from blocks, etc. all measure the same
ability? If your answer is no, then you are
saying that you dont think that a total IQ score
has any meaning.
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FORMULAS YOU NEED TO KNOW
X Score
? Sum (add)
N Number of Scores
Mean (average raw scores)
SD Standard Deviation
2
?
Variance
?X N

(N-1)
You learned this in 4th or 5th grade