Educators and researchers strive to build policies and practices on data and evidence, especially on academic achievement scores. When assessment scores are inaccurate for specific student populations or when scores are inappropriately used, even data-driven decisions will be misinformed. To maximize the impact of the research-practice-policy…

IQs increased by about 30 points in the 20th century. Part of this increase may have been the result of increased standardized testing because testing improves the skills on which students are tested. But although these practices may increase general intelligence, they may impede the development of creativity and wisdom. As a result, our society…

Individual differences refer to the unique ways each human being differs from another human being as expressed in behaviour or perceived in the physical appearance. Three factors of individual differences identified to be closely related to learning/acquisition of skills and performance of tasks. These are personality dimensions, self-efficacy and…

The essay integrates the psychometric intelligence approach with the cognitive-developmental approach or the stage theory erected by Piaget and his disciples. The latter led to Piagetian Cross-Cultural Psychology and the accumulation of an immense body of data. It shows that different IQ levels are indicative of the peculiar stages of cognitive…

"Everyone else was turning the page but I had not yet finished the first item." That is how the author remembers the beginning of his interest in intelligence. For whatever reason, he decided while in elementary school that intelligence is modifiable, and every year he authored a work book with exercises children could complete to increase their…

School readiness is a quality that adults believe exists within the child, but it actually is an artifact of age-graded schools. Even in a single grade, there will be a one-year spread in ages and, therefore, in development. Instead of sorting children into those who are ready to learn and those who are not, schools should provide opportunities…

This article outlines shortcomings of currently used university admissions tests and discusses ways in which they could potentially be improved, summarizing two projects designed to enhance college and university admissions. The projects were inspired by the augmented theory of successful intelligence, according to which successful intelligence…

Ignorance is a potentially powerful conceptual tool for analyses of pedagogies for internationalising Australian education. Ignorance typically has a negative connotation but, in this paper, knowledge and ignorance are seen as intermingling productively, with ignorance stimulating the production of knowledge, in turn creating new fields of…

Transformational Leadership is a popular topic among leadership scholars, but for research administrators, Transformational Leadership might seem like an enigmatic approach given its various contexts. Research administrators might think the transformational approach is only for executives, or that they do not have enough staff to call themselves…

In 2011, three years on from the Apology given by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd to the Stolen Generations and coupled with the Federal Governments agenda to "close the gap" in education for Aboriginal students, perhaps it is time to retrospectively look at the issues and challenges that have moulded the terrain of Aboriginal education in…

When Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act in 2004 (IDEIA 2004), local educational agencies (LEA) were permitted to use a Response-to-Intervention (RtI) approach for identifying children with possible learning disabilities for special education. Furthermore, IDEIA 2004 no longer required LEAs to establish an…

American educators have become very concerned by mandates prescribed in the federal No Child Left Behind Act and a slew of state-level reforms such as new curriculum standards and requirements. It is difficult for them to entertain other suggestions. The concern is understandable because noncompliance leads to unbearable consequences. Failure to…

The incidence of autism spectrum disorders has increased dramatically over the past two decades, yet these disorders are still poorly understood. By considering the viewpoints of autistics themselves, together with evidence from the scientific literature, it becomes clear that autism spectrum disorders are not always the debilitating conditions…

Addresses selecting materials for children who have deficits or strengths in their use of certain learning modes based on Howard Gardner's seven types of intelligence: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and internal and external personal intelligence. Describes one picture book for each category. (Author/LRW)

Outlines eight premises of individuals who believe racial differences influence mental ability (e.g., IQ tests accurately measure mental ability and IQ tests are equally valid across racial, ethnic, and cultural groups), challenging the classicist model of intelligence on which hereditarian assumptions of racial disparity are based. Refutes each…