TAG

Talented And Gifted programs in Public Schools, esp for Educating Kids In Nyc (cf Nyc Specialized High School)

Standardized Test-s for evaluating kids

The WISC-III is an excellent IQ test, but it has a general ceiling level for scoring in the 150 IQ range. A WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) is made up of individual subtests. When a person scores at the highest level in a number of WISC subtest scores, it is often recommended that a Stanford Binet L-M be conducted.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition (SB5) are the two most popular individual IQ tests used in the selection of students for gifted programs. Both tests offer several methods of scoring. The Full Scale IQ scores generated on these tests are not as cohesive measures of general intelligence as in prior editions. When there are extreme discrepancies between composite scores on the WISC-IV (23 points or more), the Full Scale IQ score should not be derived (Flanagan & Kaufman, 2004). Therefore, the Full Scale IQ score should not be the main score used to determine program selection (Rimm, Gilman & Silverman, in press). It is not necessary to calculate a Full Scale IQ on the SB5; it is permissible to use either the Verbal IQ or the Nonverbal IQ independently to locate gifted children with different strengths. The highest index, composite or factor score is often the best predictor of success in the gifted program, if the program is responsive to the learning strengths of the students (Silverman, in press, a). When using the WISC-IV, either the General Ability Index (GAI), which emphasizes reasoning ability, or the Full Scale IQ Score (FSIQ), should be acceptable for selection to gifted programs... The gifted validation sample reported in the Technical Manual of the WISC-IV achieved a mean Full Scale IQ score of 123.5 (Wechsler, 2003). The mean IQ score of 202 children in the gifted validation sample of the SB5 was 124. Therefore, cut-off scores for gifted programs should be lowered to 120, rather than 130 (Rimm, Gilman & Silverman, in press; Silverman, in press, a). In selecting an instrument to use for assessing the gifted, it is necessary to keep in mind that the WISC-IV and the SB5 identify different students as gifted. As 30% of the WISC-IV measures abstract verbal reasoning, compared to 10% of the SB5, the WISC-IV is likely to find more highly verbal children. As 20% of the SB5 measures mathematically gifted children, compared to 0 - 10% of the WISC-IV (depending if Arithmetic, an optional test, is administered), the SB5 is likely to find more mathematically gifted children.

• (same group published editorial from 2002) We give the SBL-M (Stanford Binet L-M) as a supplementary test to children who reached the ceiling (>99th%) on more recently-normed test, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III). While it is a dated test, the SBL-M is clearly still a valid test, or it would not be listed as such in the 2002 Riverside catalog... The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, in all of its editions, remained the test of choice for identifying gifted children, by such notables as Nancy Bayley, Jerome Sattler and Ruth Martinson, until 1986. Sadly, the fourth edition of the Stanford-Binet Scale, released in 1986, by the late Robert Thorndike, Elizabeth Hagen and Jerome Sattler, was not true to Terman's intent. It originally was planned to have a ceiling of 148, because, as all three authors told me personally, there weren't enough children in the norm sample who scored beyond 148 to warrant higher scores... We have seen dramatic differences in the thought processes, need for advanced work, social concerns, and emotional development of children beyond 160 IQ, compared with children who scored within the norms of current IQ tests... The Gifted Development Center will soon be conducting studies comparing performance on the SBL-M with performance on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition. John Wasserman added in his letter, "Many of the changes we are planning for the Stanford-Binet Fifth Edition reflect ideas you have addressed in your research."