Testing for Intelligence

All children deserve to be served equitably by early care and educational services and, if needed, by intervention services. This requires that there be fair and effective tools to assess their learning and development and identify their needs. In this chapter we address the challenges to assessment posed by groups of children who differ from the majority population in various ways. Conducting assessments for all children has both benefits and challenges, but when it comes to assessing young children from a cultural, ethnic, or racial minority group, unique concerns apply related to issues of bias.

The outcomes of interest vary to some extent as a function of a child’s age; it is harder to distinguish domains of functioning in infants and toddlers than older preschoolers, and likewise younger preschoolers are exposed to more similar demands across settings than older preschoolers. In addition, the domains usually assessed for older children are more heavily influenced by the constraints of the traditional school curriculum. In selecting a domain or a measure, it is crucial to start with a well-defined purpose and to explore whether the outcomes and measures chosen are well suited for that specific purpose.