From WISC-R, K-ABC, and Fourth Edition Stanford-Binet Profiles in Predicting Achievement

Scatter analysis of IQ profiles has a long and controversial history. We conducted this study to determine whether the validity of scatter information is any greater for 2 new IQ batteries, the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and the Fourth Edition Stanford-Binet (SB4), than for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). Within a sample of referred children, we computed numerical indexes of profile elevation, shape, and variability for all IQ tests. Using hierarchical multiple regression with achievement scores as dependent variables, we found shape information had marginal incremental validity over elevation as a predictor for the WISC-R, even less for the SB4, and virtually none for the K-ABC. We discuss implications of these results. One of the most robust findings in assessment research is that IQ scores covary with academic achievement. A much more controversial issue, however, concerns the value of scatter analysis of IQ test profiles, the formulation of hypotheses about abilities on the basis of patterns of subtest scores. Interest in scatter analysis dates to the 1930s and 1940s, and many report