Page 181 - DEDU504_EDUCATIONAL_MEASUREMENT_AND_EVALUATION_ENGLISH

Unit 13 : Interpretation of Test Scores : Qualitative and Quantitative

memory span or word knowledge), just as, conversely, it occasionally happens that a person’s IQ Notes
is depressed by an inconsistently low performance on one or a few subtests. “Inconsistent”
means that the individual’s levels of performance on these few subtests differ markedly, in one
direction or another, from the general and more consistent levels of his scores on the other
subtests.
It is to be noted that the possible vitiating factors mentioned in the preceding paragraph are of the
type to which the experienced and qualified psychological examiner will be alert. These precautions
do not signify that all or most intelligence test ratings are affected by these and other contingencies.

13.2.1 Indexes Used with Educational Achievement Tests
Educational Age : The educational age index (EA) represents a pupil’s average level of achievement
in a group of school subjects, measured by means of standardized tests, and in terms of the
average for various chronological ages in school. If, for example, a pupil’s performance on the
tests is at the average 12-year level, his EA is 12.
There is no fixed or uniform list of school subjects for which educational ages are obtained;
therefore they are not all necessarily comparable. Furthermore, even if achievement in the same
school subjects is measured, but with different tests, the EAs might still not be comparable
because of possible differences in the standardization process.
Educational age is used, at times, to estimate the probable grade level at which a pupil’s test
performance places him, since the average age for each grade is known. This practice, however,
is of doubtful merit. If a grade estimate or comparison is wanted, then grade norms should be
used. These are provided by all the sound educational achievement tests.
Educational Quotient : As was to be expected, an “age” would be accompanied by a quotient. The
educational quotient indicates, presumably, whether a pupil’s knowledge of a group of school
subjects is commensurate with his chronological age, or whether it is above or below the level to
be expected of him for his age. The simple formula, therefore, is :
EA
EQ = ( )100
CA
the ratio being multipled by 100 to remove the decimal. It is hardly necessary to mention that the
value of obtained educational quotients will depend upon the achievement test’s reliability and
validity.
13.2.2 Achievement Quotient
This index, AQ, the use of which was suggested in 1920 (7), is now rarely used. It is found by
dividing educational age by mental age (EA/MA). The reason for using MA as the divisor,
instead of CA, is that the former is regarded as the more valid index of a pupil’s learning
capacity. Hence, it was believed, dividing EA by MA yields a quotient that indicates whether or
not the individual is working up to his mental capacity, as found by the intelligence test. Although
it is true that mental age is a more valid index of learning capacity and educational promise than
chronological age alone, the AQ has some serious defects, which account for its virtual
abandonment. First, it is erroneous, to expect all mentally superior pupils to be at a level of
educational achievement equal to their mental age, as the following example shows : assume that
a superior child has completed the first grade at the age of 7; he has a mental age of 10, and, thus,
an IQ of 143. To get an AQ of 100, he would have to earn an EA of 10. To obtain this EA, he must
acquire, in one year of schoolwork, as much as the ordinary child is expected to acquire in four.
It is not probable that this will happen. To generalize this point : the superior child, especially in
the lower school grades, has not had, and frequently does not have, the time and length of
schooling necessary to learn the amount of subject matter necessary to equate EA with MA.
A second defect in using the AQ is that frequently the population samples upon which the
educational achievement tests have been standardized are not comparable with those upon which

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 175