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The Otis–Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT), published by the successor of Harcourt Assessment
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, Inc., a subsidiary of Pearson PLC—is, according to the publisher, a
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of abstract thinking and
reasoning Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...
ability of children pre-K to 18. The Otis-Lennon is group-administered (except preschool),
multiple choice Multiple choice (MC), objective response or MCQ (for multiple choice question) is a form of an objective assessment in which respondents are asked to select only the correct answer from the choices offered as a list. The multiple choice format i ...
, taken with
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and paper, measures verbal, quantitative, and spatial reasoning ability. The test yields verbal and nonverbal scores, from which a total score is derived, called a School Ability Index (SAI). The SAI is a normalized standard score with a
mean A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...
of 100 and a
standard deviation In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation of the values of a variable about its Expected value, mean. A low standard Deviation (statistics), deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean ( ...
of 16. With the exception of pre-K, the test is administered in groups.


Test components

The test has twenty-one subtests that are organized into five areas—verbal comprehension, verbal reasoning, pictorial reasoning, figural reasoning, and quantitative reasoning—each with equal numbers of verbal and non-verbal items: The number of questions and the time limit varies accordingly:


Uses in primary and secondary education

In 2012, the
New York City Department of Education The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (more commonly known as New York City Publ ...
(NYC DOE) adjusted its criteria for inferring gifted and talented needs of students in kindergarten through the third grade. Citing a disproportionate number of students scoring in the 99th percentile — the far right tail of the distribution curve — the NYC DOE replaced the Bracken (BSRA) with the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT), and changed the weighting, lowering the OLSAT from two-thirds to one-third and giving the NNAT two-thirds. A local news source reported that many parents were unhappy about the decrease in the weighting of the OLSAT and the implementation of the NNAT. The objective, according to the NYC DOE, was to combat the advantages of children receiving pretest tutoring. The NYC DOE avers that the OLSAT is more preppable and the NNAT is less preppable.


Uses by high-IQ societies

High scores on the OLSAT are accepted by high IQ societies such as American Mensa (requiring a total SAI ≥ 132) and Intertel (requiring a total SAI ≥ 138), the latter also accepting scores on this test's historical predecessor, the OLMAT.


Criticisms

Accuracy : The fact that the OLSAT is easier and less expensive to administer than an
IQ test An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. Originally, IQ was a score obtained by dividing a person's mental age score, obtained by administering ...
, such as the Stanford Binet V or the
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is an individually administered intelligence test for children between the ages of 6 and 16. The Fifth Edition (WISC-V; Wechsler, 2014) is the most recent version. The WISC-V takes 45 to 65 min ...
, makes it more accessible; but its accuracy at higher levels is less reliable. High scores on the OLSAT are nevertheless accepted as qualifying evidence by high IQ societies such as Mensa and Intertel. Test environment : Preschoolers taking the OLSAT for gifted and talented (G&T) kindergarten programs are more likely to be aware that they are taking a test. For that particular age, the test is given one-on-one. The test is presented in a multiple choice format, and either the child fills in the "bubble" or the tester does it for them. By contrast, many psychological, intelligence, and school ability tests (or assessments) are administered by psychologists who discreetly take notes while conducting introspective thinking activities. Under these conditions, the child is often unaware of being evaluated. Test format for preschoolers : Some testing scholars have published concerns over whether the multiple-choice aspect of testing encourages guesswork over independent thinking. Preparing for the test : For the 2007–08 school-year, New York City began using the OLSAT to infer gifted pedagogical needs of public school children entering kindergarten through 3rd grade. Preschools – and a cottage industry of
test preparation Test preparation (abbreviated test prep) or exam preparation is an educational course, tutoring service, educational material, or a learning tool designed to increase students' performance on standardized tests. Examples of these tests include ...
companies – soon thereafter began offering OLSAT test-preparation. OLSAT attempts to infer "school ability" for a particular grade. In New York City, a preschooler being screened for a gifted pedagogy at the kindergarten level would simply be assessed using the OLSAT that measures kindergarten scholastic ability. OLSAT test preparation programs for preschoolers have essentially incorporated an OLSAT oriented kindergarten curriculum.


Editions

:1st ed. — Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (published August 13, 1979) :2nd ed. — Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (published September 10, 1982) :6th ed. — Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (published November 15, 1988) :7th ed. — Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (published October 23, 1995) :8th ed. — Otis-Lennon School Ability Test


References


External links


''Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment''
SAGE Publications Sage Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent academic publishing company, founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller McCune and now based in the Newbury Park neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California. Sage ...

OLSAT Website
Pearson Education {{DEFAULTSORT:Otis-Lennon School Ability Test Standardized tests Student assessment and evaluation Cognitive tests Intelligence tests