Academic high school freshmen show a very wide range of intelligence, but the group as a whole covers about the upper half of the population distribution¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 1922 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Alpha scores of freshmen in the surveyed schools range from about 35 (mental age roughly 11 years) to 185 (a very superior adult score), yet fewer than 7.5 per cent of freshmen score below median intelligence, so academic high school pupils cover approximately the upper half of American intelligence. → Cobb 1922

Evidence¶

Cobb 1922¶

Cobb, Margaret V. (1922). The Limits Set to Educational Achievement by Limited Intelligence. The Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. XIII, No. 8. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=The+Limits+Set+to+Educational+Achievement+by+Limited+Intelligence

q2 · i? · associational · r1

Section II reports Army Alpha distributions of high school freshmen in Michigan and in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa (Tables IV-VII, Figure 1). The text notes a freshman "may score anything from 35" to 185, and that fewer than 7.5 per cent lack median intelligence or better.

"The pupils in academic high schools are, in fact, a limited group, which just about covers the upper half of the whole range of American intelligence."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The large majority of freshmen scoring below 77.5 Alpha drop out before senior year — related
• Most students show small discrepancies between intelligence percentile and scholarship percentile, but a substantial minority show large ones — related
• Selected academic groups differ in Alpha distributions, with Phi Beta Kappa electees concentrated in higher classes and probationers lower — related