Focuses on a study which examined the association between scores on
childhood skills and adult drug use. Information on the Iowa Test of
Basic Skills (ITBS); Comparison of the scores of drug users and non-drug
users; Issues regarding the use of the ITBS.
By
Nada Mangialetti, published on January 01, 2002
STANDARDIZED TESTING
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLERS are more interested in rollerblades than in
rolling joints, but their test scores might predict later drug use,
according to a controversial new study by Robert Block, Ph.D., associate
professor of anesthesia at the University of Iowa. Children who became
drug users scored lower on their Iowa Test of Basic Skills than did
children who remained drug-free as adults. The tests measure verbal
expression, reading comprehension, mathematics and concept formation, and
were taken years or decades before drug use began.
Block also tested people in drug rehabilitation programs three
weeks and three months after they were admitted. A control group of
non-drug users took the same tests. At the three-week mark, drug abusers
scored significantly lower than nonusers on every test. Block says this
finding held even when he took into account their poorer fourth-grade
ITBS scores. After three months, drug abusers still lagged behind
nonusers. The findings were presented at the recent American Society of
Anesthesiologists annual meeting.
Mark Appelbaum, Ph.D., president of the American Psychological
Association's division on Evaluation, Measurement & Statistics,
questions the use of the ITBS to measure drug abusers' cognitive
abilities. Appelbaum maintains that such tests were designed to measure
information learned in the classroom so that schools can compare
themselves with other schools. The ITBS are achievement tests, not tests
of how well the brain is functioning. "My preference would be that they
use basic measures of neuropsychological functioning," Appelbaum
says.
Block counters that using fourth-grade ITBS scores made it possible
to see just how much worse drug abusers fared as adults. Block asserts
that due to the ITBS' emphasis on "general intellectual skills and
abilities rather than mastery of specific, detailed content," it closely
resembles an aptitude test.
Tags:
achievement tests,
american psychological association,
cognitive abilities,
concept formation,
control group,
drug abusers,
drug rehabilitation programs,
drug users,
intellectual skills,
iowa children,
iowa test of basic skills,
itbs scores,
mark appelbaum,
reading comprehension,
rollerblades,
rolling joints,
skills and abilities,
test block,
verbal expression
