46-320-01 Tests and Measurements

1. 46-320-01Tests and Measurements Intersession 2006

2. Alternative Individual Ability Tests • Alternatives to Stanford-Binet and WAIS • Disadvantages • None superior psychometrics • Can’t directly compare IQ scores • Advantages: • Special populations/learning disabilities • Less reliant on verbal responses/reading ability • Most contain performance scale

3. Compared to One Another • Check: • Age range • What is measured • Type of score • Level of motor skills needed • Range of abilities • Target population • Examiner skill level required

4. Early Individual Ability Tests • Seguin Form Board – 1907 • Knox – 1914 • Specific populations • Single Score • Nonverbal performance scales

5. Infant Scales • Generally poor predictors of later IQ (exception: low range) and poor construct validity • Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale (BNAS) • 3 days to 4 weeks of age • Index of newborn’s competence • 47 scores (neurological, social, behavioural) • No norms available • Meaning of scores unclear • Good interrater reliability, poor test-retest reliability

6. More Infant Scales • Gesell Developmental Schedules (GDS; 1925) • Appraisal of developmental status • 21.2 months to 6 years of age • Based on normative sample from longitudinal study (not representative) • Developmental quotient (DQ) • IQ = (DQ/CA)*100 • Reliability and validity poor

7. More Infant Scales • Bayley Scales of Infant Development – Second Edition (BSID-II) • Based on normative maturational data • 1 to 42 months • 2 scores: mental and motor; ratings of behaviour • Standard scores (mean = 100, sd = 16) • Excellent standardization • Psychometrics: median split-half reliability coefficients – high .60 to low .90 (motor scale) – low .80 to low .90 (mental scale)

8. Tests for Young Children • McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities (MSCA) • 2 ½ to 8 ½ years old • 18 subtests, General Cognitive Index (GCI) • Scales: Verbal; Perceptual-Performance; Quantitative • Both reliability and validity fair • GCI reliability – low .90’s • Correlations with WPPSI .71, with Stanford-Binet (L-M) .81

9. More Tests for Young Children • Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (K-ABC-II) • 3 to 18 years of age • 18 subtests • Standardization and norms • Reliability comparable • Validity Sequential Processing Mental Processing Composite Simultaneous Processing Achievement Scale Nonverbal Scale

10. Special Populations • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Third Edition (PPVT-III) • 2 ½ to 90 years, physical and language handicapped • Multiple-choice, measures receptive vocabulary • Two forms, 204 plates each, four numbered pictures/card • Reliability high .8’s and above • Underestimates IQ’s at extremes of range • Not to be used as substitute for WISC/Binet

11. Special Populations • Leiter International Performance Scale – Revised (LIPS-R) • 2 to 18 years • Performance scale, age scale format • Deaf and language disabled • Validity very good • Meaning of test scores still unclear

12. Learning Disabilities • Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery – III • General intelligence (g), specific cognitive abilities, scholastic aptitude, oral language, achievement, interests • Representative standardization sample • Good psychometrics • Split-half reliabilities • Good support for structure of factors; adequate correlations with Wechsler scales

13. Visiographic Tests • Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test (BVMGT) • Ages 4 and over • Copy 9 geometric figures • Many norm groups • Emotional problems, low intelligence, brain damage

14. Individual Achievement • Wide Range Achievement Test – 3 (WRAT-3) • Ages 5 and up • Reading, spelling, arithmetic • 2 forms • Measuring?

15. Group Tests of Ability • Advantages • Cost-efficient • Less examiner skill and training • More objective and reliable scoring • Broad application • Psychometrically sound • Disadvantages • Motivation and cooperation assumed • Lose individual information/observations

16. Using Group Test Scores • Use results with caution • Be suspicious of low scores • Wide discrepancies = warning signal • When in doubt, refer

17. K - 12 Group Achievement Tests • Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) • Grades 1 to 9 • Spelling, reading comprehension, word study and skills, language arts, social studies, science, mathematics, listening comprehension • Well normed and criterion-referenced

18. K - 12 Group Intelligence Tests • Kuhlmann-Anderson Test – Eight Edition (KAT) • Primarily nonverbal at all grade levels • Scores expressed in various ways • Percentile band • Reliability high • Split-half coefficients in low .90’s • Test-retest coefficients from low .80’s to low .90’s • Validity high

19. Graduate Record Examination Aptitude Test (GRE) • Intended to measure general scholastic ability • Verbal Abilities: • Analogies • Antonyms • Sentence completions • Reading comprehension • Quantitative Ability • Quantitative comparison • Problem solving • Data Interpretation

20. GRE • Scores: • Verbal (GRE-V) • Quantitative (GRE-Q) • Analytic Reasoning (GRE-A) • Subject Tests • Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) format

21. GRE • Stability of scores adequate • Predictive validity poor • Grade inflation and restricted range of grades • Study?

22. Nonverbal Group Ability Tests • Raven Progressive Matrices (RPM) • Age 5 and up • Minimize effects of language and culture • 60 matrices • 1998 revision: Raven Plus • Excellent norms

23. Nonverbal Group Ability Tests • Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (G-HDT) • Draw a picture of a whole man as best as can • Standardized • Possible 70 points • Scoring: age differentiation • Children under 14 or 15, younger is better • Good reliability and validity