Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale | Description | Purpose
Definition
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fifth Edition (SB: FE) is a standardized test that measures intelligence in children and adults, from age two through mature adulthood.
Purpose
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was originally developed to help place children in appropriate educational settings. It can help determine the level of intellectual and cognitive functioning in people ages 2 to 85-plus years and assist in the diagnosis of a learning disability, developmental delay, mental retardation , or giftedness. It is used to provide educational planning and placement, neuropsychological assessment, and research. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is generally administered in a school or clinical setting. For professionals working with younger children (i.e., under age 7), the Early Stanford-Binet Fifth Edition (Early SB5) is also available.
Description
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is generally considered to be one of the best and most widely used intelligence tests available. It was originally designed to measure general intelligence, but through various incarnations came to include factors beyond general intelligence that were assessed by “area scores.” This inclusion of area scores, however, has drawn criticism from some researchers. The fifth edition of this test has been significantly reformatted and now measures five factors believed to encompass intelligence. These factors are reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory (short-term memory). The addition of an assessment across nonverbal domains is new, and experts believe that it will be helpful to clinicians or trained educators in situations involving communication difficulties. Five of the test’s 10 subscales address verbal cognition and the other five address nonverbal skills. Each subscale has its own “testlet,” a brief (around five minutes) test for a given level of difficulty. As has been the standard, the test is scaled to a standard average score of 100.
Administration and interpretation of results of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale requires a competent examiner who is trained in psychology and individual intellectual assessment, preferably a psychologist .
Description
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale has a long history. It is a descendant of the Binet-Simon scale, which was developed in 1905 and became the first intelligence test. The Stanford-BinetIntelligence Scale was developed in 1916 and was revised in 1937, 1960, 1986, and 2003.
Administration of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale typically takes between 45 to 90 minutes, but can take as long as two and a half hours. The older the child and the more subtests administered, the longer the test generally takes to complete. The composite score is considered to be what the authors call the best estimate of “g” or “general reasoning ability” and is the sum of all of subtest scores. General reasoning ability is considered to represent a person’s ability to solve novel problems. The composite score is a global estimate of a person’s intellectual functioning. The previous version of the test contained four measures of g; the fifth edition uses the five listed above, with visual-spatial processing as the added factor.
Results
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is a standardized test, which means that a large sample of children and adults were administered the exam as a means of developing test norms. In the case of the fifth edition, this sample consisted of more than 4,800 people, a population group representative of the population of the United States based on age, gender, race or ethnic group, geographic region, community size, parental education, and educational placement (normal versus special classes). From this sample, norms were established. Norms are set from the performance of a comparison group of subjects so that the performance of the tested individual can be compared to this group and thus evaluated.
The numbers of correct responses on the given subtests are converted to a Standard Age Score (SAS), which is based on the chronological age of the person taking the test. This score is similar to an I.Q. score. Based on these norms, the area scores and test composite on the Stanford-BinetIntelligence Scale each have a mean or average score of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. For this test, as with most measures of intelligence, a score of 100 is in the normal or average range. The standard deviation indicates how far above or below the norm a child’s score is. For example, a score of 85 is one standard deviation below the norm score of 100. Based on the number of correct responses on a given subtest, an age equivalent is available to help interpret the person’s level of functioning.
Test scores provide an estimate of the level at which a child is functioning based on a combination of many different subtests or measures of skills. A trained psychologist is needed to evaluate and interpret the results, determine strengths and weaknesses, and make overall recommendations based on the findings and observed behavioral observations.
Resources
BOOKS
Sattler, Jerome. Assessment of Children, 3rd ed. San Diego, CA: Jerome Sattler, 1992.
PERIODICALS
Caruso, J. “Reliable Component Analysis of the Stanford-Binet: Fourth Edition for 2–6-Year Olds.”Psychological Assessment 13.2 (2001): 827–40.
DiStefano, Christine, and Stefan C. Dombrowski. “Investigating the Theoretical Structure of theStanford-Binet—Fifth Edition.” Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 24, (2006): 123–36.
Grunau, R., M. Whitfield, and J. Petrie. “Predicting IQ of Biologically ‘At Risk’ Children from Age 3 to School Entry.” Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 21.6 (2000): 401–407.
ORGANIZATIONS
The American Psychological Association. 750 First St., NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242. (202) 336-5500 www.apa.org
The National Association of School Psychologists. 4340 East West Highway, Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814. (301) 657-0270. www.nasponline.com
WEB SITES
From the publisher of the test: “FAQ about the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition.”http://www.assess.nelson.com/pdf/sb5-faq.pdf
Jenifer P. Marom, PhD
Emily Jane Willingham, PhD
