This document provides information about standardized test score reports. It defines various scores and terms commonly found on score reports, such as raw score, standard score, percentile rank, grade equivalent, and confidence interval. It also discusses how to communicate score report information to parents and students in a clear and understandable way. Key points include translating statistical terms into plain language, focusing on next steps, and being honest while also positive.

1. SPE 501
Class 11, Online Module 6

2. Do Now
• Download the ―Score reports‖ file from the website
Choose a score report based on your grade level
and/or interest.
• Look over the report and try to find any of the
following. Label them on the score report.
• Raw score
• Standard/scaled score
• Confidence intervals or score range
• Standard error of measure
• Percentile/Percentile rank
• Grade/age equivalent
• Highlight other scores/words you encounter that
you are not familiar with.

3. Objectives
RWBAT…
• Define terms related to standardized assessment
• Read a standardized assessment score report to gain
information about a student
• Translate a score report into student and parent-friendly
language
• Describe how accommodations are used in district/state
assessments

4. What are standardized assessments?
• Also known as Formal Assessments
• Designed by people who are experts in test
construction and distributed by companies
• Test administration kept consistent
• Objective
• Strict standards for scoring
• Often multiple choice

5. Types of Formal assessments
• Aptitude—used to predict performance in the future (ex.
ACT, IQ tests)
• Achievement—used to evaluate academic skills (ex.
ISAT)
Reasons for administering achievement tests:
• Determine eligibility for special education
• Identify students in need of support
• Compare students across schools, districts, etc.
• Evaluate schools, teachers, curriculum, etc.

6. Norm vs. Criterion Referenced
• Norm-referenced assessments compare
students with others who took the test. This
group is called the norm or reference group.
• Criterion-referenced assessments compare
students with a pre-determined set of skills.
These tests do not compare students with each
other but focus on describing a individual
student’s academic performance.

7. Reporting Scores
Ways to report scores on standardized tests:
• Raw score
• Standard/scale score
• Percentile
• Stanine
• Confidence intervals
• Cut scores

8. Helpful Terms
• Mean
• average score (*used the most)
• Median
• the middle score
• Mode
• the score the occurs the most often
• Standard deviation
• measure of variability, shows the average deviation of scores
from the mean
• Example: Find the mean, median, and mode
• 60, 78, 80, 80, 85, 92, 96

9. Example
Given scores of 60, 78, 80, 80, 85, 92, 96
Mean = 81.6
Median = 80
Mode = 80
Standard Deviation = 11.6

10. The Normal Curve
• The ―normal distribution‖ is a distribution of
scores that are distributed evenly around the
mean score. It describes many naturally occurring
physical and social phenomena. Many scores will
cluster around the mean. Fewer scores fall at the
end points or at the higher and lower
occurrences.
• Sometimes referred to as a ―bell curve‖

11. The Normal Distribution

12. Properties of the Normal Distribution
• The mean is the midpoint of the distribution.
• The mean, the median, and the mode are all at the same
point.
• 68% of all scores are located in the area of plus or minus
one standard deviation from the mean.
• About 16% of the scores are higher or lower than one
standard deviation above the mean.
• Only 2% of the scores are more than two standard
deviations above or below the mean.
• Example: If you scored 700 on the SAT math test, you did
well, because only about 2% of the people who take the
test make that score.

13. Raw Score
• The number of questions answered correctly
• Always reference the number of items (questions)
when interpreting the raw score
• Never try to interpret raw scores across subtests
or between tests because the subtests & tests
differ in difficulty and in the number of questions
asked
• Example: A CPS reading benchmark test gives
raw scores out of 45

14. Standard Score
• Also sometimes called a scaled score
• Way of converting raw scores to a number that
makes more sense (i.e. does not take into
account the number of items)
• Uses the mean and standard deviation to convert
scores.
• T-scores and Z-scores are each types of standard
score.
• Many psychological tests use standard scores
with a mean of 100 and a SD of 15 (ex. IQ tests—
100 is average)

15. Percentile Rank
• These scores show the percentage of students in a
normed sample who score at, below, or above a particular
raw score.
• A student scoring better than three-fourths of the students
in the normed sample would be at the 75th percentile or
have a percentile rank of 75. A percentile rank of 50
means the student scored as well, or better than 50% of
the students in the normed sample.
• Different from % correct. Percents are only used with raw
scores.

16. Stanine
• Divides the normal curve into 9 sections.
• Range from stanine 1 (lowest) to stanine 9
(highest)

17. Grade Equivalent Scores (GE)
• GE scores are obtained from separately normed samples
for each grade level.
• They are reported in numbers such as 3.8, 5.4, 11.2. The
whole number equals the grade and the decimal the
month.
• GE scores are often misleading and misinterpreted. For
example, if a 7th grade student has a GE of 10, should
she be promoted to the 10th grade?
• No! A GE score of 10 does not mean that the student can do 10th grade
level work. This score means that the 7th grade student scored similar to
what a 10th grade student would have scored on the 7th grade test. The
high scores may simply represent superior mastery of material at the 7th
grade level.

18. Confidence Interval
• This is a ―standard error band‖ within which a
student’s score can fall. It is sometimes referred
to as a score range on assessment reports.
• It is based on the standard error of measurement
(SEM), and is an estimation made by test
developers who take into consideration how
much a student’s score would vary over repeated
testing sessions.
• You might see this as a shaded area surrounding
a graph of scores

19. Cut Scores
• Some tests use cut scores to divide students into
classification groups (e.g. meeting standards,
below standards, etc.)
• Cut scores are normally use the standard/scale
score instead of percentiles
• Examples:
• http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/htmls/psae_cut_points.htm
• http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/pdfs/2013/isat/cut-
scores13.pdf

20. RIT Scores
• Part of the NWEA/MAPS test
• Basically a standard score used by the test makers
• Grade-independent: a score of 235 is the same no matter
what grade so a 4th grade student and a 5th grade student
both with a score of 235 are on the same level
• Equal intervals between scores: a student who goes from
150 to 170 has made the same amount of growth as a
student who goes from 170 to 190.
• Presented in Descartes Ranges: way of using cut scores
to put students in different groups for instructional
planning purposes. Descartes ranges connected to
criterion information.

21. Standardized Assessment Reports
• Review your score report:
• Any new terms/scores you can identify?
• Lingering questions?

22. Communicating Assessment Results with
Parents and Students
Tyesha, a 7th grade student in your class, just took a
standardized assessment and received the score report
below. Her mother emails you asking you to explain what
the different numbers mean.
Tyesha’s Standardized Test Scores for Math
Standard score 182
Grade equivalent 5.5
Percentile Rank (district normed) 43
Stanine 5

23. Standard score 182
Her score on the test converted to some scale used by the test
makers. That does not mean that she got 182 questions correct.
(It would help to show the parent the scale used for the test –
what does 182 mean?)
Grade equivalent 5.5
Tyesha scored as well as a fifth grader in the fourth month of
school would have scored on this 7th grade test. It doesn’t mean
she’s at the 5th grade level in math but it does mean she is a bit
below where she should be.
Percentile Rank (district normed) 43
Tyesha scored better than 43% of the students who took the
test. She is slightly below the average.
Stanine 5
The stanine divides scores into 9 groups. Five is the middle
stanine so Tyesha’s score is in the middle range.
What can we say overall?

24. Communicating Assessment Results with
Parents and Students
• Avoid using statistical terms – standard deviation, mean,
etc.
• Avoid terms that could be triggers for parents – bell curve,
―normal‖ curve
• Keep things simple – ex. You don’t have to explain how
we get a standard score
• Be positive but also honest!
• Talk about next steps – what do the results tell you about
where you (and the student) need to go

25. Evaluating Standardized Tests
All forms of assessment should have evidence of
reliability and validity.
• Reliability refers to the consistency of the test
results, or how likely it is that a person will get the
same score each time the test is taken.
• Validity refers to the adequacy and appropriateness
of interpretations based on the test results
It is also important to consider who is the in the
norming group.
• How do the characteristics (i.e. race, gender,
geographic region, disability) of the population used
as the norming sample compare with your
population of students

26. Reliability
How reliability is judged (done by test
manufacturers):
• Test-retest: give a the same test at two different
times
• Alternate form: give two versions of the test
• Split-half: break test into two sections
• Internal consistency – statistical measure of
reliability
• Interrater: have two different people score a test
(only works for tests that involve ratings of
performance, i.e. not multiple choice)

27. Validity
• Content
• How well a test’s items reflect a particular body of knowledge and skill
• Ex. Does the math section on the 3rd grade ISAT reflect what is
covered in 3rd grade math?
• Criterion
• How well a test predicts a student’s future behavior or compare to
current performance on other measures
• Ex. How well does the ACT predict college success?
• Construct
• How well a test measures some internal attribute of a person
• Ex. If a test is measuring student verbal reasoning, how is that term
defined/measured?
• Consequence
• What decisions are being made based on the test results
• Do the test results accomplish their intended purposes and avoid
unintended consequences?

28. Validity of standardized assessments for
students with disabilities
• Issues with construct-irrelevant variance - Is the test measuring
something other than it intends? For example, if a math test
has a heavy reading load, does it accurately measure the math
ability of a student with a severe reading disability?
• Use of accommodations – Do the accommodations being used
impact the test in such a way that is no longer measuring what
they intend to?
• Consequential validity – Are the test results being used
appropriately for students with disabilities? For example, if a
student is being retained based on ISAT results, is that
appropriate for a student with a severe learning disability?
• Predictive power – If a test is designed to predict future
performance (e.g. the SAT and college grades) does it still hold
true for SWD?

29. Accommodations for District/State
Assessments
• Remember the 5 types:
• Presentation
• Response
• Setting
• Timing
• Scheduling
• Located in Section 10c of the IEP

30. Accommodations for District/State
Assessments
• Not always the same as accommodations used
for classroom assessments. Different
accommodations are allowed for different tests.
• For a student to receive accommodations on
standardized tests they must be listed in the IEP
and have been used previously by the student for
classroom assessments. (Ex. You can’t create
new accommodations just for the ISAT if a
student hasn’t used them in classroom
assessments.)

31. Allowable Accommodations
• Each district/state test has accommodations that they
allow to be used by students with disabilities. They also
may have procedures for schools to apply and get
approval for individual students to use accommodations
on an assessment.
• The school counselor or case manager usually handles
these accommodations.
• http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/pdfs/2013/IEP_504
_guidance.pdf

32. Accommodations on the NWEA
• NWEA lays out guideline for accommodations:
http://www.nwea.org/node/4615
• Not as strict as ISAT and PSAE since they are not used
for high-stakes decisions at the district or state level.
• Download the accommodations checklist (on the web
page above) to keep track of acc used for students

33. Accommodations on the ISAT
• List of allowable accommodations for SWD and
ELLs(English Language Learners):
• http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/pdfs/ISAT_accommodations
_grid.pdf

34. Accommodations on the PSAE (ACT)
• The ACT breaks accommodations into two types:
• ACT accommodations – if a student uses these accommodations their
scores can still be reported to colleges
• State allowed accommodations – these are more intensive acc that a
student may use if the test is going to be used for state accountability
purposes (like the PSAE in Illinois). If a student uses state allowed
acc their ACT scores cannot be reported to colleges.
• Differences between ACT and State Allowed acc:
• http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/pdfs/2009/ACT_Apvd_State_Al
wd.pdf
• More detailed info: look at p. 1 for the difference between ACT and State
allowed accommodations, p. 2 for examples, and p. 6 for specific disabilities
and accommodations allowed
• http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/pdfs/2013/psae/accom-
procedures13.pdf

35. Illinois Alternate Assessment
• For students with most severe cognitive disabilities for
whom taking the ISAT or PSAE even with
accommodations is not appropriate
• Determined by the IEP team
• http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/pdfs/2012/iaa/partic_guidelin
es_pres.pdf
• Administered in a one-on-one setting. Student given
prompts (questions) and evaluated on the amount of
support they need to respond to the prompt
• http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/pdfs/2013/iaa/test_admin_pr
es.pdf

36. For more information
• ISBE info on standardized tests:
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/assessment/
• Information about tests for parents (good review of info):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/et
c/guide.html

37. Next steps…
Module 6 activity:
• Download module 6 activity from the website. Choose
the activity that corresponds with your teaching
assignment (primary or secondary). You do not need to
do both!
• Complete module 6 activity by typing directly on the
document. Save and upload to your google folder by
11:59pm on 3/24.
Course feedback:
• Click on the link for the google form to give feedback on
the course

38. Finishing the course
• This is the last module!
• Remaining assignments:
• IEP Assessment Report Review – due by 11:59pm on 3/24
• Adapting assessments assignment – Due by 11:59pm on 3/29!