FIRST TO NINTH GRADE I& CHANGES OF

RALPH SCOTT^ NORTHERN NEGRO STUDENTS

State College of Iowa, Cedar Falls

It is widely believed that the mean Negro I& increases under circumstances which prevail in the presumably “superior” northern environment, Klineberg (1963, p. 201) refers to his (1935) experiments and to those of Lee (1951) in averring that northern Negro I& scores increase as a result of diminished discrimination in the north. Berelson and Steiner (1964, p. 497) cite the statement of thirty-two social scientists which declared that average I& differences of Negro and white students are reduced as Negro children live longer in the north.

Irrespective of the relevance of earlier data, new social conditions have been created as the proportion of Negroes in the cities of the north has risen. Of these, segregated education is one aspect. Under these conditions, this experimenter felt that there were grounds for questioning whether the mean I& would necessarily in- crease in proportion to the Negroes’ length of residence in the north.

This study sought to secure fresh knowledge concerning the impact of the northern environment on patterning of Negro I&. It was predicted that, when first and ninth grade I& scores of the same Ss are compared, ninth grade scores would be higher, thus reflecting the influence of the “superior” northern environment.

METHOD In June, 1963, test records of ninth grade students (CA 14-16) of a Chicago Negro public high

school were examined. Of those students who had attended only Chicago public schools and for whom first grade (Kuhlmann-Anderson) and ninth grade (California Test of Mental Maturity-Short Form) IQ scores were recorded, 65 were randomly selected. The school which Ss attended was considered representative of the Chicago Negro community on the basis of census tract data (Hauser, Kita- gawa, & Taeuber, 1963) which indicated that the school drew from an area wherein median famil income was $4806, median school years completed by adults was 9.0, and the per cent of families wit i income below $3000 as of 1960 was 25.6.

RESULTS Mean I& of Ss ranged from 60 to 115.5. 8s’ first grade mean I& was 93.06; the

ninth grade mean was 89.92. Thus the average Negro I& dropped 3.14 I& points from first to ninth grade testinga.z, a

These data were subjected to a two-variable of classification analysis of var- iance, with the following results.

As Table 1 illustrates, the mean I& loss from first to ninth grade testings is found to have a p of .05. Table 1 also demonstrates that the between4 differences are significant well beyond the .01 level. A post-experimental hypothesis was then entertained : perhaps the larger between4 differences indicate a skewed distribu- tion, wherein considerably more students lose than gain large blocks of I& points.

‘Formerly at the Division of Psychiatry, Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Medical School.

*The representativeness of Negro Ss in this study is supported by the fact the mean first grade scores is almost identical to the estimate of mean northern Negro I& as estimated by Klmeberg (1963) and Shuey (1958).

aA 2-page table giving raw IQ data for all students has been deposited with the American Docu- mentation Institute. Order Document No. 8522 remitting $1.25 for 35-mm. microfilm or for 6 by 8 in. photocopies.

160 RALPH SCOTT

TABLE 1. I& CHANGES OF NORTHERN NEGROES-VARIABLES: TIME AND BETWEEN~UBJECTS

Row means (between4 differences) 18078.5 64 282.47 5.88** Column means (1-9 grade I& diff.) 320.0 1 320.00 6.65* Residual 3068.0 64 47.90 Total 21466.5 129

*p .05 **p .01

If this were so, then the mean Negro I& decrement might mask stable or slight I& changes of the majority of Negro Ss. A tally of Ss, using I& point changes of eight or more as an arbitrary cut-off point, showed that 8 Ss gained, and 22 lost, eight or more I& points. Sixteen Ss gained, and 15 lost, seven points or less. A chi-square was performed on Ss with the larger (8 points or more) I& changes. The resultant X2 was 6.53 ( p .025).

DISCUSSION The data obtained in this study suggest that increment in the mean Negro I&

and length of residence in the north may not be unalterable correlates. There is no reason to assume that the Ss of this study are atypical of northern Negroes, nor that conditions in Chicago are markedly different from those of Philadelphia and Harlem. Possibly as a result of social factors such as flight of whites to the suburbs, larger families of lower-class Negroes, growing congestion within Negro neighborhoods and rising indices of crime, the northern environment once was, but is no longer, “su- perior.”

The mean Negro I& loss appears to be associated with the sizable fraction of students who suffered substantial I& declines. Should replication studies indicate this to be generally true, then Negro mean I& directionality may best be understood through careful social-histories of those Negro students who gain, and those who lose, large blocks of I& points during latency. It is predicted that such a qualitative study would indicate that certain correlates of social-class, such as economic deprivation, father-absent homes, serious marital discord, and lax discipline, would figure promin- ently in the backgrounds of Ss who suffered extensive I& losses.

REFERENCES BERELSON. B.. & STEINER. G. Human behavior. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. 1964.

I _

HAUSER, P. KITAGAWA, E., & TAEUBER, K. Local community fact book: Chicago: Univer. of Chicago Press, 1963.

KLINEBERG, 0. Negro intelligence and selective migration, New York: Columbia Univer. Press, 1935. KLINEBERG, 0. Negro-white differences in intelligence test performance. American Psychologist,

1963, 18, 198-203. LEE, E. Negro intelligence and selective migration: a Philadelphia test of Klineberg’s hypothesis.

American Sociological Review, 1951, 61, 227-233. SHUEY, A. The testing of Negro intelligence. Lynchburg, Va.: J. P. Bell, 1958.