Thelma Gwinn Thurstone, an internationally known expert on human intelligence and educational measurement, died Feb. 12 in Chapel Hill, N.C. She was 95.
Ms. Thurstone was known for the work she and her husband, Louis Leon Thurstone, carried out in their psychometric laboratory at the University of Chicago in the 1940’s and 1950’s.
Her work included one of the first studies to compare the efficacy of regular and special classes for students with mental retardation. She also developed a reading program, “Reading for Understanding,’' a basic-skills program for Science Research Associates called “The Learning to Think Series,’' and the “Tests of Primary Mental Abilities.’'
She also worked for a time on the staff of the American Council on Education.
In 1968, she retired from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a professor of education and a researcher at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center.
