November 2003 I/O Central www.chsbs.cmich.edu/iopa Trying to Build a Better Mousetrap: the Cognitive Abilities Sc"le-2nd Edition (2001) By: Carl Merle Johnson Inside this edition: Lead Srory 1,3 Graduate Perspectives 1;2 First Years 3 Donations 4 Congratulations 4 IOPA Survey Results 4-5 Word Scramble 6 Activities & Events 7 Recent Publications 7-8 I/O Central Contributors • Editor: Jackie Steele • Contributors: Jeff Labrador IQ testing in young children is a problem. Ability and achieve- ment tests are difficult to distin- guish for this population (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997; Salvia & Ysseldyke, 2004); infanrs and preschoolers have not had the chance to achieve very much because they have not been in school. Moreover, there are prob- lems with reliability and validity for infant and preschool tests. One of the largest difficulties is predictive validity (Sternberg, Grigorenko, & Bundy, 2001). Tests administered before the age of 2 have virtually no predictive validity (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997; Columbo, 1993; Sternberg et aI., 2001). This criterion prob- lem has flat been solved in over 50 years of testing young chil- dren. Sharon published the Cogni- tive Abilities Scale (Bradley- Johnson, 1987), an intelligence test for 2- & 3-year-old children, and it was time to renorm it. The publisher requested that she ex- pand the age range in the revi- sion. Sharon beseeched myassis- tance (.. .for better or for worse, in sickness and in health...) and we began this project almost 10 years ago, developing items from re- search on infant cognition and then field testing them. After two years of revising items we began to norm our test, the Cognitive Abilities Scale-Second Edition, on both preschoolers (2 & 3 years of age) and infants (3 to 24 months). This was when we discovered why so few tests for infants exist-it was an arduous task that took 3 addi- tional years to complete. Our norm sample of 1,106 children were from 27 states, matching the U.S. Census data on geography, gender, race, ethnicity, Uf- ban/rural residence, disability status, and educational attain- ment of parents. Although we tested hundreds of infants and preschoolers from Boston to San Diego, we hired many psycholo- gists throughout the country to assist us. (continued on page 3) Liz Hendricks Fresh Outta Grad School and onto the Job Market. YIKES! By: Stephanie Haaland, Ph.D. Brian Siers Nathan Bowling Carl Johnson Stephanie Haaland Sheri Chaney • IOPA Faculty Advisors: Steve Wagner Neil Christiansen When I first started my job search, I was petrified that every- one I talked to would see through my lack of knowledge and skill. Come to find out, as a new grad you know more then yOll think you do and often more then the people across from yOll conduct- ing the interviews. Well, let me refine that statement, you often have·more technical knowledge, but they know more about how things 'feally work. Don't underes- timate the importance of that. You are also armed with the most recent information in your field, which should give you confidence going into your interviews. It's a strange transition to go from the graduate student who knows nothing and is learning every- thing from the all-knowing profes- sors, to all of the sudden being the expert who needs to stand on your own. For me, having intern- ships and consulting experiences in graduate school helped with this. These opportunities allow you to venture out on your own, test your knowledge and skills, but still be in a relatively safe environment. In the past two years, I have worked both as a research direC'" tor for a small consulting firm and in academia (I just started my first year as an assistant professor at a small liberal arts college). I think the lessons I have learned from these experiences, (continued on page 2)