Differences and associations between students’ and teachers’ intelligence: evidence relies on a PISA-based cognitive assessment tool

Educational Research and Evaluation. 2026. Vol. 31. No. 7-8. P. 553–576.

Колачев Н. И., Kovaleva G.

This study investigates the psychometric structure and school-level associations between cognitive abilities of teachers and students. Using a cross-sectional quantitative design, we administered a PISA-based cognitive assessment tool measuring reading, mathematics, science literacy, and global competence to 5,391 eighth-grade students and 2,385 teachers from 84 schools in a Russian region. Bifactor modeling, measurement invariance testing, and plausible values methodology were employed. Results indicate that teachers exhibit significantly higher general cognitive ability (g) and domain-specific skills, while students showed higher global competence. School-level correlations were near-zero, with a weak positive association only between mathematics teachers’ and students’ g-factors. Teachers’ cognitive profiles were more dominated by g, supporting the age dedifferentiation hypothesis. These findings imply that pre-service teacher education should incorporate a substantial general cognitive component alongside subject-specific training, and that curricula should integrate contemporary, globally relevant tasks that capitalize on adolescents’ strength in global competence.

Ключевые слова: intelligence, PISA, Bifactor model, g-factor, general cognitive ability