Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale™, referred to as Stanford-Binet (SB), is a widely accepted standard in the measurement of intelligence, and has the longest tradition in American intelligence testing. The well-known term “Intelligence Quotient,” or IQ, is the result of the Stanford-Binet. The Stanford-Binet’s history dates back to the contributions made by Louis Terman of Stanford University in 1916, and the pioneering works of Alfred Binet and Theophile Simon.

In 1904, Alfred Binet was commissioned by the French Ministry of Public Instruction to develop a means of diagnosing mental retardation in primary grade children in Paris. The objective was to identify students of slight mental retardation and move them from the normal classroom into schools where they would benefit from more specialized education. In 1905, Alfred Binet and Theophile Simon produced the first intelligence test, known as the Binet–Simon scale, or simply, the Binet scale. This test was arranged in increasing...