Wais and Group Test Predictions of an Academic Success Criterion: High School and College

Abstract

THE purposes of this study were: (a) to determine the predictive validity of all parts of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale: WAIS (Wechsler, 1955) for educationally relevant criteria in high school and in college, and (b) to determine whether the best predictor subparts of the WAIS correlated with the criterion measures as high as did scores from widely used group tests of academic aptitude.It has become common to find the WAIS used in secondary school counseling and guidance centers, in community vocational rehabilitation centers, and in college counseling centers and remedial study programs. Invariably, predictions of future educational success are made on the basis of WAIS results obtained in these settings. Yet, little in the way of predictive validity information for educational success criteria is available to those using the WAIS.Three years after the publication of the WAIS, Wechsler (1958) published information on the relationship between WAIS scores and educational attainment for the WAIS standardization sample, but there have been only two predictive validity studies relevant to our purposes here.

On the myth and the reality of the temporal validity degradation of general mental ability test scores

“…For example, Rushton (1999) showed that score gains from the US, Germany, Austria, and Scotland formed a cluster separate from that formed by g-loaded tests, and that the score gains on various tests were negatively related to the tests' g loadings, indicating the Flynn effect is stronger on tests with a greater proportion of non-g variance (though such findings could also arise due to statistical artifacts associated with the use of difference scores). Given that the predictive power of tests stem primarily from their gsaturation (e.g., Conry & Plant, 1965;McHenry, Hough, Toquam, Hanson, & Ashworth, 1990;Ree, Earles, & Teachout, 1994;Thorndike, 1991), secular score increases due to non-g factors would leave criterion-related validities unchanged.…”

Predicting Academic Success in College Using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised

“…These results are not consistent with those of previous literature. For example, studies by Conry and Plant (1965), Dennis (1978), and Wall et al (1962) did find significant differences between correlations of GPA with the Verbal and Performance…”

“…Another study examining the correlations between the WAIS and academic success was conducted by Conry and Plant (1965). They examined correlations between freshman college GPA and the WAIS subtest scaled scores, the WAIS Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale summed scale scores, and their respective IQ scores.…”

“…'In many of the studies investigating the ability of WAIS scores to predict college academic success (Conry & Plant, 1965;Dennis, 1978;Plant & Lynd, 1959;Wall et al, 1962), the prediction of college GPA was stronger using the Verbal Scale than the Performance Scale.…”

Intelligence Process vs. Content and Academic Performance: A Trip through a House of Mirrors

“…A subsequent study with larger samples and the revised version of the Wechsler scales (the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, WAIS) was reported by Conry and Plant (1965). The study included the prediction of grades with a sample of N = 98 high school students, and a prediction of grades with a sample of N = 335 college students.…”