Method overview
The Six Intelligences
The Six Intelligences are six analytical lenses used to move from assessment evidence to a complete instructional response.
The six lenses
One question for each lens
A single item diagnosis is examined through all six before it becomes instruction, so the response is complete rather than one-dimensional. They are not learner types.
- 01
Test Intelligence
“What does the item, and its numbers, actually show?”
The assessment as evidence — what the item asks, how students perform on it, and what the response pattern suggests.
- 02
Content Intelligence
“What is the concept the student must actually understand?”
The mathematics behind the item — the concept the standard demands, stripped of the item's wrapper and the procedure a student can recall.
- 03
Data Intelligence
“Does the pattern hold across the cluster and across years?”
The evidence across items, groups, and time — whether the pattern repeats or may reflect a one-time result.
- 04
Pedagogical Intelligence
“What is the instructional move that closes this gap?”
The teaching move — specific and classroom-concrete, not a generic strategy.
- 05
Coaching Intelligence
“How do I coach the teacher to run this and hold the line?”
The teacher-support layer — how you coach the move and check it doesn't drift back to abstract once it meets a real classroom.
- 06
Systems Intelligence
“What in the pacing or system keeps this fixed past one lesson?”
The structural layer — how pacing, the priority framework, and the school's own systems keep the fix in place beyond a single lesson.
Related: all methods · research themes · Keiron Phillips