However the quality of schooling a child receives plays a pivotal role in determining IQ test results. Some interesting research endeavours can be cited in this respect.
The Head Start program in the United States is a federally funded preschool program for children from low income families. Head Start provides children with activities that might enhance cognitive development, including reading books, learning the alphabet and numbers, learning the names of colors, drawing, and other activities. These programs often have large initial effects on IQ test results and children who participate gain as much as 15 IQ points compared to control groups of similar children not in the program. The educational correlation for IQ test results continues into adulthood, with college graduates typically scoring higher than non college graduates.
A substantial body of research establishes that preschool education can improve the learning and development of young children. Multiple meta-analyses conducted over the past 25 years have found preschool education to produce an average immediate effect of about half (0.50) a standard deviation on cognitive development. This is the equivalent of 7 or 8 points on an IQ test, or a ascent from the 30th to the 50th percentile on test scores.
The above reports demonstrate that schooling is an important factor that affects intelligence. By schooling, one can improve knowledge of specific facts for intelligence tests, familiarity with testing practices, concentration and attention span, and verbal problem solving skills. Therefore, there is no doubt that education helps raise one's IQ.
On the other hand, research has indicated that children who do not attend school or who attend intermittently eventually have poorer scores on IQ tests than those who attend regularly. Parallely, children who move from low-quality schools to high-quality schools are more likely to show improvements in IQ scores. Besides transmitting information to students directly, schools should teach problem solving, abstract thinking, and how to sustain attention, which are all skills required for scoring well on IQ tests.
A few more truths about schooling and IQ (which may surprise anyone who views it as a measure of innate intelligence):
•Although intelligence does influence the decisions to stay in school, staying in school itself can raise IQ or prevent it from dropping.
•IQ is affected by delayed schooling. A drop in IQ is seen when schooling is delayed.
•Each additional month a student remains in school may increase her/his IQ above what would have been expected had he dropped out.
•IQ is affected by remaining in school longer. The longer a student stays in school, the higher her/his IQ.
•Dropping out of school can also decrease IQ.
•IQ is affected by vacations. The longer the vacation, especially when the child's time is spent on least "mind-stimulating" activities, this decline is evident.
In short, schooling has a long-term effect on the level of intelligence. Education increases a student's capacity to deal with the problem solving tasks typically found in intelligence tests; therefore a student who has mastered those skills at school will inevitably do well on an IQ test.
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