title: Universal Scale of Intelligence Estimates (USIE): Representing Intelligence Estimated From Level of Education.
abstract: In clinical neuropsychology, it is often necessary to estimate a patient's premorbid level of cognitive functioning in order to evaluate whether his scores on cognitive tests should be considered abnormal. In practice, test results from before the onset of brain pathology are rarely available, and the patient's level of education is used instead as an estimate of his premorbid level. Unfortunately, level of education may be expressed on many different scales of education, which are difficult to use interchangeably. Here, we introduce a new scale that has the capacity to replace existing scales and can be used interchangeably with any of them: the Universal Scale of Intelligence Estimates (USIE). To achieve this, we propose to map all levels of existing educational scales to standard IQ scores. This USIE point estimate is supplemented with an estimation interval. We assert that USIE offers some important benefits for clinical practice and research.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: de Vent
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Agelink van Rentergem
authors.affiliation: 2 Pearson Assessment and Information, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kerkmeer
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Huizenga
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Schmand
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: J M J
authors.initials: JMJ
authors.lastname: Murre
mesh_terms: D003710:Demography; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence
keywords: adjusted level of education; clinical evaluation; demographic variables; education comparison; educational scale; premorbid IQ