Profile Patterns: Research and Professional Interpretation

The articles in this issue include two methods for identifying profile patterns: configural frequency analysis and modal profile analysis. These methods are briefly compared with each other and additional methods. Although the remaining articles provide some support for the validity and reliability of patterns, they do not fundamentally challenge the conclusion that in research to date, subtest profile patterns on the existing generation of intelligence tests have modest reliability and weak relationships with achievement and diagnostic categorizations. When subtest interpretations are made, they are heavily based on professional judgment, they should be made with caution, and they should be made only in the context of other information about the student. Future research and test development should be concerned about the reliability of patterns and their association with more meaningful, homogeneous diagnostic categories.