Intelligence Tests

A defendant may be spared the death penalty because he is mentally deficient in one area, even if his IQ score falls in the normal range, the California Supreme Court decided Thursday. The state high court's unanimous ruling rejected an appeals court decision that "full scale" IQ scores -- composites of tests of various mental faculties -- are the best measure of intelligence.

James R. Flynn, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Otaga in New Zealand, discovered two decades ago that IQ test scores were steadily rising in the developed world despite failing schools and stagnant standardized test scores -- a phenomenon called the "Flynn effect." During a recent visit to UCLA, Flynn talked about the conundrum, which is the subject of his new book, "What Is Intelligence?" Are children today smarter than their parents?

The longest study of children born after in vitro fertilization and similar treatments is reassuring on intelligence scores and psychological health, but raises concerns that the rate of birth defects may be higher than normal, researchers said Wednesday. The study, funded by the European Union, involved more than 1,500 children from Britain, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Greece tracked up to age 5.

Trick Question: Should parents administer at-home IQ tests to their kids? Pick one: a) Yes; b) No; or c) Maybe, but don't make me take one myself. For parents hoping their kids will be able to fork out for their own educations from their "Jeopardy" winnings, here's news. Virtual Knowledge, a Needham, Mass.-based software company, has begun offering what it says is the first CD-ROM aptitude and IQ test for children.

Several years ago, Illinois-based Wonderlic Personnel Inc. found that the thousands of corporations that had been using the company's short-form intelligence test for more than three decades wanted to gauge more than their employees' brainpower. "Creativity is what our clients are telling us they need at all levels, from the mail room to the boardroom," said Victor Artese, Wonderlic's vice president for research and development.

Gregg Colton likes to recall a minor case of deja vu that he was forced to endure a couple of years ago. The private investigator and former director of test security for an examination firm was reading an advertisement that guaranteed a passing grade on a state contractor's exam after just two days of study. He'd seen hundreds of similar ads from such "cram schools" but after further scrutiny, he had to admit this one was special.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by a man who was deemed too smart to be a New London, Conn., police officer. U.S. District Judge Peter C. Dorsey said the Police Department's rejection of Robert Jordan because he scored too high on an intelligence test did not violate his rights. The city's rationale for the long-standing practice is that candidates who score too high could soon get bored and quit after undergoing costly academy training.

The assignment--read a chapter in a history book about the Erie Canal and the westward movement--meant trouble for 13-year-old Garrett Santos. A bright child who has trouble reading, the Modesto eighth-grader told his teacher he just wasn't getting it. Her response? Singing. "We studied some old folk songs--'15 Miles on the Erie Canal,' 'I've Been Working on the Railroad,' " Garrett said. During the chapter test, he ran the lyrics through his head to help him recall important facts.

The boy who would grow up to direct "The Caine Mutiny" was a 13-year-old student at Lockwood Street School on the fringes of Hollywood when he was discovered by Lewis M. Terman, the inventor of the modern-day IQ test. It was 1922, and the Stanford University professor had dispersed a small flock of assistants to test children around the state.

Lewis M. Terman was a great believer in the power of his IQ test to determine people's proper roles in society. To him, measuring the intelligence quotient was as absolute as testing for tuberculosis--a disease that afflicted him throughout adulthood. Born in Indiana in 1877, the 12th of 14 children, Terman was an avid reader who escaped the family's farm and went on to head Stanford University's psychology department. His own definition of a gifted child would likely have fitted him.