Comparison of Wisc-R Performance of Urban and Rural Special Education Students

Abstract

The relationship between WISC-R subtest profiles and geographic environment (urban or rural) for 178 special education (Learning Disabled and Educable Mentally Handicapped) students (54 females and 124 males; 114 Negroes and 64 Caucasians), ranging in age from 6 yr., 3 mo. to 15 yr., was explored in relation to the children's race and specific type of disability. Urban children performed significantly better than rural children on all subtests except Coding. Moreover, the mean WISC-R profiles differed significantly in shape for the urban and rural children. There was a significant discrepancy in verbal and performance scores for rural children but not urban children. Extensions to a previous comparison of the WISC-R performance of urban and rural children in the standardization sample (Kaufman & Doppelt, 1976) are discussed.