Intelligent Testing With Wechsler’s Fourth Editions

Abstract

The two featured articles and eight commentaries on the WISC-IV (Wechsler, 2003) and WAIS-IV (Wechsler, 2008) in this special issue of Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment are of exceptional quality. As a collective, this special issue greatly advances the field of cognitive assessment by intelligently synthesizing the best of methodology (confirmatory factor analysis) with the best of theory (Cattell–Horn–Carroll). The Weiss et al. articles represent sophisticated approaches to test validation and interpretation and the commentaries deal with applications, extensions, and limitations of the findings. This “response to the respondents” focuses on Wechsler’s approach to assessment, historical antecedents of factor analysis (especially the contributions of Jacob Cohen in the 1950s), and the “intelligent testing” model of test interpretation.