The IQ Controversy and Academic Performance

Abstract

Since 1950, psychologists and educational researchers have devoted immense investigative energy to research on factors hypothesized to enhance the academic performance of black students. This research represents an offshoot of a general interest on the part of psychologists and educational researchers in theories of learning and ways to optimize learning and achievement. The impetus for specific research on black student achievement has arisen from two overriding and pervasive facts: (a) it is generally acknowledged by the scientific community and by the public that the everyday conditions of the typical minority youngster’s life are not conducive to high academic performance, and (b) the usual measures of academic achievement (i.e., standardized aptitude and achievement tests) indicate that black students are significantly behind their white counterparts in academic achievement. Before we consider research on the academic performance of black students, we will briefly review both the long and controversial history of the race/intelligence controversy and the recent renewed interest in this controversy resulting from the writings of Arthur Jensen.