A percentile rank indicates how well a student performed in comparison to the students in the

specific norm group, for example, in the same grade and subject. A student'spercentile rank
indicates that the student scored as well as, or better than, the percent of students in
the norm group. The percentile rank of a score is the percentage of scores in its frequency
distribution that are equal to or lower than it. For example, a test score that is greater than 75% of
the scores of people taking the test is said to be at the 75th percentile, where 75 is the percentile
rank.

Percentiles

These scores show how a student's performance compares to others tested during test
development. A student who scores at the 50th percentile performed at least as well as 50 percent
of students his age. A score at the 50th percentile is within the average range.

Grade equivalents

A type of test score describing an individual’s performance in relation to the

performance of typical students at a given grade level.

Standard Scores

Test developers calculate the statistical average based on the performance of students tested in
the norming process of test development. That score is assigned a value. Different performance
levels are calculated based on the differences in student scores from the statistical average and
are expressed as standard deviations.

These standard deviations are used to determine what scores fall within the above average,
average, and below average ranges.

Z-Scores

These scores are scaled on a number line ranging from -4 to 4. On this scale, zero is average.
Positive scores are above average, and negative scores are below average.

To calculate a z-score, subtract the mean from the raw score and divide that answer by the standard
deviation. (i.e., raw score =15, mean = 10, standard deviation = 4. Therefore 15 minus 10 equals
5. 5 divided by 4 equals 1.25. Thus the z-score is 1.25.)

T-Scores

These scores range in intervals of 10 from 10 to 90 points. Fifty is average on this scale, and the
average range is usually between 40 and 60.
Stanine Score

The stanine scale is also called the standard nine scale. These scores range from 1 to 9, with 5
being average. Scores below 5 are below average. Scores above 5 are above average.