The intelligence test I helped develop
Several years ago I helped to develop a new version of a leading intelligence test. Together with other underemployed college graduates, I worked second shift in a warehouse of test materials, scoring the verbal part of the test on old computer monitors on tables. The goal was to prove that the new edition could test intelligence as accurately as the the previous edition. This assumes that the previous edition tested intelligence accurately.
A short psychologist in her late thirties was in charge of our project. She had previously administered the test in prisons and other institutions, but now that she had seen what was behind it, she couldn’t do that ever again. She told us that she had tried to become an electrician, but the union told her she was too old.
People criticize schools for teaching to the test, for giving lessons that would result in higher scores on certain material, without necessarily teaching other material any better.
But it’s possible to teach to the test on intelligence tests. The only reason it isn’t done is that those who know what the questions are, people like me, sign a non-disclosure agreement. We can’t tell you what’s on the test. But if I wrote a book that talked about a particular kind of criminal, a particular non-Christian leader, a particular obscure proverb, and a particular view of government, I could advertise it as guaranteed to help you score higher on intelligence tests.
Amish people wouldn’t do very well on the verbal part of the test. They wouldn’t want their children to study some of the required topics, and they wouldn’t agree with some of the required answers.
More tomorrow.
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