Re:IQ - Prediction about school performance. (Score 2)

The IQ test was developed, eg. the Binet-Simon Test, to filter out the people who would not do well in the educational system. That's putting it nicely. In the early 1900's, they were a little more blunt in their reasoning. It's gone through quite a bit of refinement since then, but it is still not a measurement of intelligence per se. As for public education, the US has been aiming at the lowest common denominator for quite some time. We starve our schools for funds, yet require specific performance from students with penalties for teachers who do not deliver. My wife teaches at the number one elementary school in our state, one of the top 50 in the US. She earns teacher of the month at least once per year. Her school is not part of a district. She works there because working for the public school district was untenable. Competent teachers and administrators have left it long ago. Their administration is a nightmare. They don't even provide curriculum for teachers, but require them to develop it themselves. Exactly the opposite of where she works now. It's no wonder that students are not preforming as well as they used to. It's also not surprising that it would show up in IQ tests.

This post is very inaccurate. It's quite the opposite of what is mentioned here. Charter schools do NOT outperform public ones. In fact, they are ONLY beneficial to minority inner city children per the latest research. The amount of students who achieve great things, and who came from a charter school are almost non-existent to give an example. Seriously, go look and you will find no notable individuals who went primarily to charter schools. That said, IQ can be influenced by practice. You can score higher by practicing. However, your upper and lower bounds (through sheer practice or not, are limited by biology). I wouldn't read much into this article other than to say that common students don't put the same effort into their practice of such tests (rather, the culture of the moment just does not emphasize it). Charter schools should be closed. (IMHO) Research and outcomes support this.