[senco-forum] RE: 4th percentile

In a message dated 24/04/2007 21:18:38 GMT Standard Time,  
eddiecarron at btconnect.com writes:

The best  explanations are always the simplest 

It is the concept of Reading Age that is most widely misunderstood  and 
misused in schools.  If a boy has a chronological age of exactly 10 and  a 
reading-age of exactly 8  that does not mean that the boy has a reading  deficit of 
two years.   It means that the boy  has a reading-age  deficit of two years if 
compared with an average child who has an IQ of 100 and  only six or seven 
percent of children have an !Q of 100 

If the boy is  compared with another group of children with the same IQ as 
himself, he could  even have a reading-age surpluss. If compared with yet 
another group with an IQ  of say 120, he would have about a five year deficit.

The concept of  'average' is critical in all standardised data and 'average' 
is a numerical  concept - not human one.  Children may have average heights 
and  weights  but there are no 'average' children.

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Eddie

You start off really well and then go and spoil it.

Martin