Psychology
in
rhe Schools
Volume
32.
January
1995
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR
CHILDREN-REVISED AND THE WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR
CHILDREN-I11 SCALES AND SUBTESTS WITH GIFTED CHILDREN
DAVID A. SABATINO AND
ROBERT
S.
SPANGLER
Department
of
Human Development and Learning,
East Tennessee State University
H.
BOONEY VANCE
Upper East Tennessee Educational Cooperative
and
East Tennessee State University
Each year thousands
of
children are evaluated or reevaluated utilizing the current
edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale to determine their eligibility for gifted pro-
grams. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Ill
(1991)
is new enough that
only limited research is available
on
how it compares to the previously used Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised
(1974).
The purpose of this study was to deter-
mine the comparability between the previously dominant intelligence scale, the
WISC-R, and the revised WISC-111 with gifted children.
The results
of
this study indicate that the latest revision (WISC-111) and the earlier
version (WISC-R) produce remarkably similar scale and subtest scores when ad-
ministered under clinical conditions to gifted children. All
5
1
children determined
eligible through the administration
of
one of these two Wechsler tests would have
been eligible for services had the other test been administered. The Verbal and Per-
formance scale
IQ
scores were within two points
of
each other across the two test
administrations, while only a one-point difference existed between the Full Scale
IQ
scores. The Arithmetic, Comprehension, and Object Assembly subtest scores were
in high agreement across the two administrations
@<
.01).
The level of agreement
between some subtests across the two administrations suggests that clinical judgment
is just as important as scores
in
considering who is eligible for gifted programs.
Reschley, Genshaft, and Binder
(1
987)
reported that approximately two thirds
of
most school psychologists’ time is devoted to determining the eligibility of children for
special education programs. The constancy
of
cognitive functioning and its reliable assess-
ment are major assumptions in establishing eligibility for special education programs.
School psychologists are dependent upon stable instruments, especially during any period
of
transition from an established test to a revised one with new items and normative data.
With each revision
of
the Wechsler instruments, questions of agreement arise be-
tween old and new versions. Release
of
the Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for
Children-I11
(WISC-111; Wechsler,
1991)
renews these questions. The WISC-111 states that the periodic
updating
of
norms for intelligence tests is needed because “average
IQ
scores will
gradually drift upward and give a progressively deceptive picture
of
a child’s abilities
relative to others in the same age group” (p.
4).
Kaufman
(1990)
reported that the
literature since
1930
shows a steady increase in average
IQ
scores.
The WISC-111 test manual reports that
206
children (ages
6
to
16)
were administered
the WISC-R and WISC-111 in a counterbalanced design. The time differential between
administrations was
12
to
70
days. The findings reported that the average Full Scale
IQ
(FSIQ)
decreased by more than
5.3
points on the WISC-111 in comparison to the
This research sponsored in part by a grant from the Bell South Foundation.
Correspondence and requests
for
reprints should be sent to David
A.
Sabatino, Human Development
and Learning, East Tennessee State University,
PO
Box
70,548,
Johnson City, Tennessee
37614.
18