When I started teaching every kid was given an IQ test and it was duly recorded on their accumulated file. It was a sacred number that told all kinds of things about a kid. In the rural school that I went to in the 40's IQ tests were given. Since the teacher went home for lunch, kids occasionally snooped through the desk. There was my IQ ...103! (Now if you couldn't get in the teacher's desk , how else would you put the mouse in the drawer?)
A form of IQ test is still given today.
When I started teaching the IQ was considered to have great validity. If a kid wasn't doing well, we'd check the IQ to see if there were any indications there. Should the student be achieving more?
One student had an IQ of 80. Teachers were naive enough to wonder how someone with an 80 IQ could do so well. Obviously something was wrong with the IQ result..
Do we have a definition of intelligence that can be measured?
As you can tell by now I'm definitely not a fan of IQ tests. There are too many very large variables. Tests were biased towards kids who could read. Kids who read well did well on IQs. Location influenced IQ. IQ tests were slanted toward urban kids. A little farm kid like me had never heard of some of the things on the test. The tests were not administered in standard ways. With my daughter, she was ill for the second part of the test and stayed home. The test was never completed. .Some method of prediction was used to complete her score. What about the little kid who wrote the test and didn't feel well?
Gradually educators began to see that there were holes in IQ tests and they were slowly phased out. In many places the actual number was erase.
Now I don't know what the MENSA people will think of me. I am criticizing their claim to being. To be in the Mensa club you have to have an IQ over a certain level.
Standardized tests are still used. Some of the bugs have been ironed out but they are not considered to be of great accuracy and are not used to make predictions.
I remember being given an IQ test in high school but i never learned the results. I doubt mine is anything exceptional.
ReplyDeleteResults were not given out. Other tests were give as well one example being aptitude tests.
Deletei was never given an iq test. guess my school system had phased it out already.
ReplyDeleteThere were other names for ability tests so you most likely had something.
DeleteI am not sure if I ever had an IQ test. It would be interesting to take:)
ReplyDeleteYou most likely had some kind of ability test. Scores were not given out.
DeleteThey are not irrelevant but the Mensa test can be learn't. I was thick at school and it wasn't till I was taught by a teacher that inspired me I ever did any work. It's a pity as it would have saved so much effort in later life.
ReplyDeleteYou would be the poster boy for students staying in school and working to their potential.
DeleteI don't think I ever had an IQ test. At least I can't remember. Maybe I don't want to remember. Whatever the case, there are too many variables to an intelligence test that don't make it completely reliable and could even be detrimental to a child.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right about variables.
DeleteIt was something that you were forced to do and being a shy little girl who was afraid of her Teacher, I did not fare well. My Teacher also bragged about the "smart" kids. It was the day that the teacher put a dunce hat on my little brother that my Mother flipped - how cruel was that. That same shy little guy went on to college and became a teacher and recently retired from the College in Windsor, Ontario. IQ tests - Phooey!
ReplyDeleteI keep saying that there are some bad apples in the barrel. This teacher's behavior ,while completely out of line, was somewhat typical in the past.
DeleteI can't remember I had ever an IQ test at school. The teacher gave an advice for the follow up school referring to the results you had in the previous years.
ReplyDeleteSome of that advice wasn't that accurate either. I was given advice that some students would have very poor behavior. Many times they were well behaved.
DeleteI had one as a kid, too, but never learned what it said. I figured I was exceptional, but I never learned in which direction! :-)
ReplyDeleteKids were definitely not given their scores. Only little sneaks like us found our scores. No locks in those days!
DeleteHi Red, I love it when you get on your soapbox! You are so right about IQs. I don't think it is so easy to figure out how smart folks are. Remember when some kid who wasn't supposed to be so sharp would ask a question that surprised everyone in class? I loved that kind of thing. John
ReplyDeleteAll is relative. Each kid has his own learning style and achievement.
DeleteYou are so right. One of the things that makes teaching so interesting and yet challenging at the same time. Have a good day Red.
DeleteI have been amused at tests I have taken. Being a well rounded human never has had much of a test.
ReplyDeleteGreat point. Well rounded is certainly a key.
DeleteI don't recall if I ever had one done.
ReplyDeleteYou probably had some form of ability test.
DeleteI agree with you completely. There are different types of intelligence and so many different ways of teaching and learning, so an IQ test is just one of many variables.
ReplyDeleteI like your term "types of intelligence" There's a program called multiple intelligences.
DeleteI can remember my older son's school wanting him to take a test in grade two, to see if he was considered exceptional (he was ultimately deemed very bright but not exceptional). I was hesitant for him to take it, not knowing what it might mean for him lest he be labeled one way or another.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher who discussed his results with me had been perplexed about his missing what to her, was a really easy question.
There was an image which showed drawings which clearly defined four professionals. A fireman, a policeman, a cowboy and a doctor. All wore hats except for the doctor. The question was "which one is different?" There was no place to explain your choice. Because of the hats, the answer should have been the doctor whose head was bare. My son selected the hat-clad cowboy and it was marked as wrong.
The teacher, who knew him well asked him why he chose the cowboy. "Easy! The others all end in R. DoctoR. FirefighteR, Police OfficeR. Coyboy doesn't end in R."
He had a more sophisticated response which would never be taken into consideration as a sign of intelligence. There are just far too many variables for them to ever be even close to accurate. I was just as glad he was never deemed exceptional though.
I like this one. This kid looked at things outside the box. Many times these outside the box things could not be measured.
DeleteInteresting post Red. Step up on that soap box any time.
ReplyDeleteDon't encourage me!
DeleteI had an IQ and I remember my mom telling my dad. The teacher said. I would not amount to a Hell of beans. Grade two student I was back then. How bad was that the remark?
ReplyDeleteThe next month. I came first and second in sports competition. Later academically. Reading, writing, speeches, art. I won a book called
Five Little Puppies. Great achievements written with my name and the board members signed the book and principle. I did have low grades in Math which was not good. With all the gadgets, kids have to-day. They should have honors. I have since given the book to my Granddaughter who I had put on my blog for her Birthday and now have taken off. Birthday is over. Her third year in University to be a french teacher. So she was grateful I gave it to her.
We've come a long way, baby!
ReplyDeleteI hate such tests. The EQAO tests they give in gr. 3,6 and 9 are so dumb! sigh. 'nuff said.
Negative comment like that always seem to be made. As you say the comment was devastating.
ReplyDeleteI remember taking them in grade school. Don't know that I ever knew my score. I do remember when I was first introduced to a brother-in-law of my husband that he told me my husband was very smart. My husband was one of nine children. Turns out his brother-in-law had also been his grade school teacher. When I was told my husband was very smart I guess I looked a little taken aback but Joe looked at me and said, 'No, he is very smart. His IQ is way up there." I know he based that on the test scores that he had seen. I was never told my husband's IQ but I do know he is a smart man, an engineer, with a mind that retains most everything he sees or reads. The day of the test I'm guessing he applied himself well. Over the years I've asked about his IQ and he always says I don't know. Truthfully he doesn't care and I think that's as it should be. It's only a number and not a true reflection of who one is or what they can achieve. But, he has to be pretty smart - he married me. :)
ReplyDeleteI do not like IQ test either. Having children that have disabilities make me hate them even worse. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI know I had an IQ test , maybe more than one. I know the score too, because like you, I managed to get access to the files and found mine. Yes, I sneaked an peek.
ReplyDeleteNow we talk about multiple intelligences. There are many ways to learn and many different skill sets. And yet, we are more than ever expecting kids to all take the same test and all score at the 90% level. I won't happen. So we'll blame the teachers.
I do not like tests that put you at certain limit or calculation of what you are. I believe in different skills and capabilities of a child or a person. I look at multiple intelligences instead (but not limiting my judgement on it). When I entered college, we had to have an IQ test. I forgot my score but I was allowed to take a profssional course with that score. Others were limited to associate and vocational courses. I didn't like the way it was. Why were they not given the better chance just because their IQtest score on that very day they took wasn't high enough.
ReplyDeleteI was never given an IQ Test, that I know of. Probably a good thing. I never did good in school anyway because of being so very bashful.
ReplyDeleteIQ seems pretty unimportant to me, for the most part. You could have the highest IQ in the world and still be an emotional idiot! And yes, not everyone fits into the slot of an IQ test!
ReplyDelete