WARNING! This website is no longer actively maintained. It is an archive of 2 years work by Doug Belshaw who now blogs at dougbelshaw.com...
In this mini-series of posts I’m going to show you how to use CAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) data effectively to improve the way that you teach. As with everything I post on this blog, I’m no expert in the field, but I have found what I present useful in planning for my day-to-day interactions with the students in the classes I teach. It’s also useful for those wishing to jump on the ‘personalising learning’ bandwagon…
In the UK students coming up from primary schools to secondary schools aged 11 usually take a battery of tests, known together as CAT tests (the ‘tests’ is redundant, I know…). The results of these are condensed into three main areas - Verbal (V), Non-Verbal (NV) and Quantitative (Q) - along with a mean score of all three. The way I usually explain this is that Quantitative is how good they are at dealing with numbers, Non-Verbal is what’s going on in their head, and Verbal is how good they are at expressing what’s going on in their head on paper. I have to say that I like the fact that it can sometimes show a huge discrepancy between Verbal and Non-Verbal scores - it just goes to show that intelligence is not the same as being able to express oneself on paper! 
The reason that the CAT is administered in theory is to ensure that students achieve their potential. However, the reason in practice is that the results of the Key Stage 2 SAT taken by students just before they leave primary school tend to be subject to grade inflation due it being the main indicator of ’success’ for those insitutions. Hence secondary schools need to restore the balance and provide a more accurate baseline from which to work.
Regular readers of this blog will already be familiar with my stance towards an overly-zealous regard to statistics and data over looking at the whole learner, but I do believe that CAT data can be used effectively to inform teaching. Officially, 100 is the score achieved by the ‘average’ student in each of the three areas and there is a margin of error of +/- 10 points. In practice, however, I would say that it is ‘accurate’ to within about +/- 5 points, apart from in a few exceptional cases. Students can have a very good or very bad day when they happen to be taking those tests. On the other hand, it is often said that CAT data should not change over the lifetime of secondary school for students. I would beg to differ. If the data is to be used effectively then it should be understood to have a fairly short half-life. I certainly wouldn’t be using CAT data with the same degree of confidence - if at all- in Key Stage 4 (age 14+) as I would in Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14).
Whilst some schools are fairly rigorous and detailed in the way that they use CAT data across departments to inform planning, target setting, groupings and classroom activities, others are fairly simplistic. My current school, for example, have the CAT scores hidden away on a network drive and only really make the mean CAT scores instantly accessible to staff. This can distort ones view of an individual, especially in certain subjects. An autistic student, for example, who may have a CAT score as high as 140 for the Quantitative and Non-Verbal elements may record a score of around 95-100 for the Verbal element. This would entail a CAT average of around 125 - yet in their History they may be struggling to write an essay. It is far more revealing and useful to look at individual CAT scores.
All of this, however, is just one lens through which to look at the students in your class. Whilst in subsequent posts I shall demonstrate how plotting Verbal against Non-Verbal elements can lead to interesting insights, one should always take into account the individual nuances, interests and specific needs of students. One way to do this is to offset the CAT data with a computer-based Multiple Intelligences quiz which can result in gaining information on what drives students and the types of things they enjoy doing. Finding out, for example, that you have a classroom full of music lovers can guide you towards just as good an insight into how to teach them as CAT data can provide. For more on Multiple Intelligences, see my An Idiots’ Guide to Multiple Intelligences.
Finally, as - according to my web stats - over 50% of my audience for this blog are non UK-based, I’d be interested to find out the situation in other countries. Do teachers around the world have this kind of information available to them? How is it used? Are you using it in your teaching? Please feel free to comment below! 
Image credits: Gym, DahTah & , CU Home Test (all @ Flickr)
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We have the CAT data readily available to us here in Ontario, Canada. One of the ways we use this data is to identify students who have learning disabilities so that they can get the specific support they need. A discrepancy of two stanines in the CAT scores indicate a learning disability. For example, Kids who score a 6 in the verbal and a 3 in the quantitative would be identified as having a learning disability and be eligible for the specific accommodations that need to help them in the classroom. The CAT scores are also used to identify students who are eligible for the gifted program.
I have been encouraging teachers to determine the learning styles of their students and use the information when planning and teaching their lessons. I do that myself and have found that the majority of the at-risk students I teach and support are strong visual learners and do not learn well by listening. They are always complaining about teachers talking too much. They tell me they stop listening and wait until the teacher shows them what to do. I know that if I talk "too" much , I loose them. If I use graphic organizers in my lesson, the kids are totally engaged and willingly sit at a table working on their graphic organizers using coloured markers. It's amazing to see these great big "tough" boys sitting there and using the coloured markers when creating their fishbone diagram.