The Use of IQ Tests in Special Education Decision Making and Planning. Summary of Two Workshops. Board Bulletin / Patricia Morison, Ed.

This report synthesizes the key themes and ideas discussed at two 1-day workshops addressing issues in the use of IQ tests in special education evaluation and placement. The first section considers the background and legal context of the issue. The next section looks at IQ tests in school settings. Key ideas raised include the importance of never using a single test score to make decisions, inherent limitations of IQ scores, concerns about the validity of measuring complex mental abilities, and the relevance of the particular use to which the test is being put. A section on student placement considers the role of the IQ test at the stages of referral, evaluation, and placement. Alternative approaches to eligibility assessment, including curriculum-based measurement and assessment of cognitive correlates of reading failure, are reviewed. The need for further research in such areas as effective treatment methods, effects of various kinds of classroom environments on individual differences in learning, and the malleability of intelligence is stressed. Inset boxes provide summary information on such topics as the meaning and interpretation of IQ tests, IQ tests and the diagnosis of mild mental retardation, minority overrepresentation in special education, and use of IQ tests to diagnose learning disabilities. An appendix gives the workshop agendas and lists of participants. (Contains 68 references.) (DB)

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