Evidence based practices & assessing intelligence Flashcards
Why is assessment in education important? x3
We also want to know the value added dimension that our educational providers are making.
It is also extremely important that the progress of children is monitored to ensure that effective interventions are targeted to those who need support.
Closing the attainment gap - looking to ‘level up’ opportunity as certain groups of children have greater disadvantages than others.
A curriculum-based test : The GCSE and the A’ level
how does socio-economic status affect attainment
Pupils eligible for free school meals make less educational progress between the ages of 11 and 16 than children not eligible (ONS 2020).
What is intelligence? …
Intelligence is a hypothetical construct!!!
whats standardised assessments?
An example of a curriculum based approach, having observed criterion:
‘This child is working towards year two levels in reading’.
This is not a psychometric assessment even though it is a standardised means of assessment. It is not measuring the ‘psyche’ but performance of a skill.
Alfred binet contributions
Binet published the first ability test.
Intelligence was felt to be measured by a range of tasks that were felt to be representative of typical children’s abilities at a certain age and although felt to be partly malleable, the tasks overall were felt to be measured with consistency.
An example of a psychometric test : The British Ability Scales 3
Three cluster scores can be produced which demonstrate the relative strengths of a child’s verbal abilities, non-verbal abilities and spatial abilities.
The overall cognitive ability can be calculated by combining these scores and is known as the general conceptual ability (GCA).
The percentile figure indicates where a child’s score stands in relation to a hypothetical group of 100 pupils of the same age. A percentile score between 16-84 is considered average and what is expected as ‘the norm’
define eugenics
Eugenics - ‘the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable’. Oxford Languages definition 2020.
Terman contributions
Terman (1916) standardised the scale using a large American sample and it was then no longer used to advocate education for all children but it as a test to curtail ‘the reproduction of feeble mindedness* and to eliminate an enormous amount of crime, pauperism and industrial inefficiency (White 2000).
how many principles may be used to judge Psychometrics? what are they?
May be judged by a scientific standard - see four principles:
Reliability
Validity
Standardisation
Freedom from bias
what do the 4 principles each mean?
Reliability (multiple measurements / the extent to which different measurers agree)
Validity (whether the questions are relevant or do measure a construct)
Standardisation (compares an individual’s scores with the group norm or an objectively described reference point)
Freedom from bias (items should not show group differences that are disproportionate from the test as a whole or there is different reliability or validity for different groups)
define intelligence in modern day according to Reddy 2008
‘Intelligence is fluid, multi-faceted and irreducible to a numeric standard….
We aren’t living in a meritocracy. Privilege is reproduced generation after generation.
Although we have moved to a model of difference rather than deficiency, and from persecution to protection, we still use mental retardation pretextually’.
Reddy (2008)
what are the Scepticisms around measurements of intelligence (Cline 2015 in Cline, Gulliford & Birch)? x2
Theoretical - how can a single construct such as IQ predict progress in literacy and numeracy?
Practical - how can norm-based measures of intelligence help teachers to plan and adapt teaching?
what are the Scepticisms around measurements of intelligence (Cline 2015 in Cline, Gulliford & Birch)? x3
Moral - Could the measurement of intelligence be inequitable in its treatment of children who have had access to limited learning opportunities during early childhood?
Ideological - have some of the interpretations following intelligence testing been used in racist ways?
Pedagogical - would a concept of a child having a fixed level of ability discourage teachers from trying to develop untapped potential?
Lev Vygotsky contribution
said that Human development is a social mediated process in which children acquire their cultural values, beliefs problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society.
The community plays a central role in making meaning.
Social interaction which promotes cooperative or collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive development. Those working with a more knowledgeable other may show greater understanding and improvement than those working alone.
whats Dynamic assessment?
Dynamic assessment is a kind of interactive assessment used in education and the helping professions.
Dynamic assessment is a product of the research conducted by developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky. It identifies. Constructs that a student has mastered (the Zone of Actual Development)
