> >Herman Rubin wrote:
>
> >> This is not done that often, and is generally quite difficult.
> >> It requires changing the form of the model. The more typical
> >> transformations attempt to get normal marginals, and there is
> >> rarely justification for this. It has done harm; many of the
> >> newer IQ tests never return "profoundly gifted", as this is
> >> beyond the range which the "normal" transformation of the scores
> >> from the too-small sample yields.
I responded:
> > This may not be a bad thing, as it is not clear that the tests are
> >designed to make accurate distinctions for that part of the range of
> >intellectual ability.
to which Herman Rubin responded:
> As it is used, it is a VERY bad thing. There is no way now
> that a gifted child can get anything like an appropriate
> education in the public schools, and failing to recognize
> giftedness, or its extent, is really criminal.
If the public school system had any interest in recognizing (and
giving an appropriate education to) highly gifted children it could
do so without IQ tests. If it doesn't, we cannot blame the tests.
If the maximum score attainable is (say) interpreted as
an IQ of 140, and if that score is only attainable by somebody who
ought to be offered an enriched program, then that can be used
to make this decision. Scaling differently so that a perfect mark
was intepreted as 180 or as 90 out of 90 would not add any more
information.
I would reiterate that the tests that are usually
administered to the majority of kids are not necessarily appropriate
for measuring very high intelligence. Especially when the subject
is more intelligent than the designer of the test, the scoring is
unlikely to be more than extrapolation based on higher speed.
It's also not clear that IQ tests are appropriate for spotting
every aspect of intelligence that schools ought to be looking for.
There are certain tricks and ideas that turn up repeatedly in IQ
tests. Many of the "extend the sequence" problems in Eysenck's
"Check you Own IQ" books could be beaten to death using the
calculus of finite differences - a trick that can be taught to
any child who has learned to subtract. The test on the Mensa
website has a lot of questions which are trivial if you have a
knowledge of basic math. There may be some correlation
between intelligence and working these things out for yourself, but
the hatful of free points is hardly justified.
In short - schools that are prepared to admit to the
existence of gifted children had better learn to recognize
then by more valid criteria than IQ tests.
-Robert Dawson
.
.
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