Alan S. Kaufman, PhD

Dr. Alan S. Kaufman is Research Professor at the University of Connecticut (2023—present), after having served as Clinical Professor of Psychology from 1997 to 2023 at Yale University's Child Study Center in the School of Medicine. He is an internationally recognized expert in psychometrics, test construction, intelligence (theory & practice), clinical assessment, and psychoeducational assessment. His 1979 book Intelligent Testing with the WISC-R was a landmark publication that changed the way a generation of psychologists interpreted Wechsler’s scales. The 1983 Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC, co-authored with Nadeen L. Kaufman) was the first individually administered cognitive test based on theory and successfully reduced IQ differences among ethnic groups. Further, the K-ABC changed the way comprehensive tests of intelligence were constructed. The K-ABC introduced “teaching” items, its manual included a wide array of pre-publication validity studies, and its project director (Randy Kamphaus) was a clinically trained psychologist (previously, project directors were trained in psychometrics, not clinical assessment). All of these innovations are now standard practice for new and revised IQ tests.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in 1965, and Robert L. Thorndike’s doctoral student at Columbia University in 1970, Alan served a "clinical apprenticeship" with David Wechsler and Dorothea McCarthy while employed from 1968 to 1974 as assistant director of test research and supervisor of statistics in the test division of The Psychological Corporation. He helped develop the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and supervised the standardization and validation of both tests.

From 1974 to 1997, Alan trained school psychologists and clinical psychologists, and supervised graduate-student research, at the University of Georgia, the National College of Education (now National Louis University), the California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego campus, and the University of Alabama. The research team of doctoral students that Alan and Nadeen supervised while at the University of Georgia in 1978-79 to develop the original Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) included seven individuals who went on to become international leaders in school psychology, cognitive assessment, nonverbal assessment, behavioral assessment, and adaptive behavior assessment. This stellar group includes (alphabetically): Bruce Bracken, Jack Cummings, Patti Harrison, Randy Kamphaus, Steve McCallum, Jack Naglieri, and Cecil Reynolds.

In addition to the K-ABC and its second edition (KABC-II), both of which have been translated, adapted, and standardized in dozens of countries around the world, including several rural African villages, Alan and Nadeen have developed a variety of other psychological and educational tests published by Pearson, most notably the popular Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (K-TEA) and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT). Current editions of these tests are the KABC-II Normative Update (KABC-II NU), the KTEA-3, and the KBIT-2 Revised. The K-BIT and KBIT-2 extend from preschool age through the adult life span, and have been published in Spain. The Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT) and the Kaufman Short Neuropsychological Assessment Procedure (K-SNAP)—both normed from early adolescence through old age—have been published in Germany and Netherlands. Alan and Nadeen also developed the computerized K-CLASSIC for French-speaking countries, which has been published for German-speaking countries as well.

Alan and Nadeen are founding editors and co-editors (since 1997) of the popular Wiley book series Essentials of Assessment, which numbers more than 70 volumes, has been widely translated into at least 10 languages, and has world wide influence. Alan, a co-editor of the journal Research in the Schools from 1992-2004, currently serves on the Editorial Boards of five professional journals. He has served for over forty years on the boards of Psychology in the Schools and Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. In 2024, he joined the Review Board of the Journal of Intelligence. He has written or edited 26 books and more than 275 articles, reviews, and chapters in professional journals and books in the fields of school psychology, special education, clinical psychology, neuropsychology, and educational psychology. Among Alan's books in the past 25 years are Essentials of WPPSI-III Assessment (2004, with Liz Lichtenberger); Assessing Adolescent and Adult Intelligence (2002, 2006, with Liz Lichtenberger); IQ Testing 101 (2009); Essentials of WISC-IV Assessment (2004, 2009, with Dawn Flanagan),; Essentials of WAIS-IV Assessment (2009, 2013, with Liz Lichtenberger); and Intelligent Testing with the WISC-V (2016, with Susie Raiford & Diane Coalson).

Alan is a Fellow of five divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA) and of the Association of Psychological Science (APS), and is a recipient of the Mensa Education and Research Foundation Award for Excellence (1989) and the Mid-South Educational Research Association Outstanding Research Award (1988 & 1993). In 1997, he was awarded APA’s Senior Scientist Award from Division 16 (School Psychology); in 2005, he was invited to deliver the “Legends of School Psychology” Annual Address to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP); in 2011 he was given the Fordham University Graduate School of Education Excellence in Assessment Award (renamed the Alan S. Kaufman Excellence in Assessment Award for future recipients); in 2012 he was awarded APA Division 5’s prestigious Samuel J. Messick Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions; in 2012, with Nadeen, he won the School Neuropsychology Summer Institute KIDS, Inc. Lifetime Achievement Award; in 2013 he was given The National Academy of Neuropsychology Foundation Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Neuropsychology; in 2017, with Nadeen, he was inducted into the Creativity Hall of Fame by the American Creativity Association (ACA); and in 2021, his biography was included in F. K. Reisman’s edited book Celebrating Giants and Trailblazers: A-Z of Who’s Who in Creativity Research and Related Fields.

Alan and Nadeen’s daughter, Dr. Jennie K. Singer, is a clinical psychologist in private practice who has worked in prisons as a psychologist, and at CSU--Sacramento as an Associate Professor of criminal justice. She has expertise on the psychological aspects of the prison experience. Their son, Dr. James C. Kaufman, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut, is an international expert in the field of creativity. Alan and James, who share a passion for baseball, co-authored the 1993 book The Worst Baseball Pitchers of All Time (revised in 1995) and published numerous baseball articles together.

Alan is proud and grateful to have been mentored by David Wechsler, Robert Thorndike, and Paul Torrance (Chairman of the Educational Psychology Department at University of Georgia when Alan joined the faculty in 1974).