Eric Turkheimer, Daniel T. Willingham
QUESTION: What does an IQ score actually mean? On the one hand, I’ve heard people say that these scores are meaningless—a high IQ simply shows that the child is good at taking intelligence tests. On the other hand, I know that some districts use IQ test scores as gatekeepers for their gifted and talented programs. What is the science behind IQ scores?
ANSWER: An IQ score is a summary of how successfully a child can answer the types of questions that are frequently posed in school, especially questions that require thinking abstractly with words, numbers, or space. This summary number is not meaningless because it predicts students’ success in school and in many jobs.
But IQ is frequently misunderstood by educators, families, and the general public. Instead of being recognized as a summary of correctly answered questions, it’s believed to be a measure of an internal essence within the child that many call their learning potential. But there is little evidence that such an essence exists at all, let alone that IQ tests measure it.
A better way to think about an IQ score is as a snapshot of achievement now, rather than future potential. This conceptualization offers a better lens for how we might enable all children to answer more questions correctly—that is, to raise their IQs.