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Menlo School The table below illustrates typical scores from national and statewide assessments. Studying a specific student's score or the score of a group of students provides helpful information for linking assessment with instruction.
| Type | Description | Interpretation |
| Standard Score (SS) | This score allows comparison of the student to a group of other students. Standard scores have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Scores falling between 85–115 are average. | A student received a score of 55, which is over 2 standard deviations below the mean, placing the student in the considerably below average range. |
| Grade Equivalent (GE) | This score indicates the grade and month of the school year for which the score is average. | A student who is in the seventh grade and was tested in September scored 7.1. The score would be interpreted as average. |
| National percentile rank (NPR) | This score compares the student’s score to the percentage of the norm group that performed at or below the student’s score. | A student received a score of 39, which is interpreted as the student scored the same as or better than 39 percent of the students of the same age who took the same test. |
| Normal curve equivalent (NCE) | This score allows comparison of the student to a group of other students. This score has a mean of 50 and a range of 0–99. | A student received an NCE of 49, which means that the student scored about average for students of the same age who took this test. |
| National stanines (NS) | This score ranges from 1 to 9, with a score of 5 representing an average score. | A student received a score of 1, which means that the student scored significantly below average. |
Excerpted From:
Excerpt from Assessment of Children & Youth with Special Needs, by L.G. Cohen, L.J. Spenciner, 2007 edition, p. 151.
© ______ 2007, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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