A Comparison of the Stanford-Binet Abbreviated and Complete Forms for Children Who Have Been Referred for Special Education
Master's Thesis
Central Washington University
Master of Education in School Psychology
Document Completed: May 2012
Abstract
Many studies have compared full cognitive assessments to their abbreviated counterparts to assess whether or not the abbreviated forms are reliable predictors of the long form’s standard score (usually referred to as IQ). For the most widely used cognitive assessments, the abbreviated scores are generally thought to be reliable predictors of overall IQ (or full scale IQ), but some studies have found that this is not always true when full scale IQ and abbreviated scores are compared for people who have been referred for special education evaluation. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition was normed on a typically developing population, and for this population, their abbreviated IQ scores were reliable predictors of their full scale IQ scores. The present study examined whether or not the abbreviated IQ scores were highly correlated with full scale IQ scores on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition, in students who have been referred for special education evaluation, whose scores fall in the Average, Low Average, Borderline, and Mildly Impaired ability levels. Results showed that there was a significant correlation between the abbreviated IQ and the full scale IQ for students in the Average range, Borderline range, and for the entire group overall. There was not a significant correlation between abbreviated and full scale IQs for students in the Low Average or Mildly Impaired ranges.