Binet–Simon scale

The Binet–Simon scale is an intelligence test developed by Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon to identify schoolchildren who needed additional educational support. Its age-graded tasks helped establish the idea of measuring mental development.

Mental age: A measure of the developmental level associated with a person’s performance on age-graded cognitive tasks. The scale’s tasks were grouped by age level, making mental age central to interpreting performance.
Alfred Binet: A French psychologist whose work on individual differences and cognitive assessment shaped early intelligence testing. He designed the scale with Théodore Simon for identifying pupils needing educational assistance.
Special education: Educational provision designed to meet the needs of students with disabilities or learning differences. The scale aimed to identify pupils who might benefit from individualized instruction.
Eugenics: A movement seeking to improve human populations through selective reproduction. Binet opposed treating test scores as fixed measures of innate worth, unlike later eugenic uses of intelligence testing.
Intelligence quotient: A standardized score expressing cognitive test performance relative to a reference population. Later tests converted age-based performance into a ratio score, a step absent from the original scale.
Théodore Simon: A French physician and psychologist who collaborated with Alfred Binet on an early intelligence test. His collaboration produced the scale and its successive revisions.
Educational placement: The assignment of students to educational settings or programs based on their needs and circumstances. Binet and Simon intended test results to guide support, not simply rank children.
Francis Galton: An English polymath who promoted the statistical study of inherited human differences. His hereditary account of ability contrasted with Binet’s emphasis on practical assessment and educational intervention.
Psychometrics: The science of measuring psychological traits, abilities, and processes. The scale became an early model for quantifying cognitive abilities.
French Third Republic: The French republican regime established in 1870 and lasting until 1940. Its compulsory-schooling system created the institutional setting for identifying pupils who needed support.

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