Understanding test results

In order to understand test results from standardized tests it is

important to be familiar with a variety of terms and concepts that are
fundamental to “measurement theory,” the academic study of
measurement and assessment. Two major areas in measurement
theory, reliability and validity, were discussed in the previous
chapter; in this chapter we focus on concepts and terms associated
with test scores.

The basics

Frequency distributions

A frequency distribution is a listing of the number of students who

obtained each score on a test. If 31 students take a test, and the
scores range from 11 to 30 then the frequency distribution might
look like Table 1. We also show the same set of scores on a
histogram or bar graph in Figure 1. The horizontal (or x-axis)
represents the score on the test and the vertical axis (y-axis)
represents the number or frequency of students. Plotting a
frequency distribution helps us see what scores are typical and how
much variability there are in the scores. We describe more precise
ways of determining typical scores and variability next.

Table 1: Frequency distribution for 30 scores

Score on test Frequency Central tendency measures

17 1

18 1

19 0

20 3

21 2

22 6 Mode
 Table 1: Frequency distribution for 30 scores

23 3 Median

24 2 Mean

25 0

26 2

27 6 Mode

28 2

29 2

30 1

TOTAL 31

Figure 1: Tests scores from Table 1 represented as a bar graph

Central tendency and variability

There are three common ways of measuring central tendency or
which score(s) are typical. The mean is calculated by adding up all
the scores and dividing by the number of scores. In the example in
Table 1, the mean is 24. The median is the “middle” score of the
distribution—that is half of the scores are above the median and
half are below. The median on the distribution is 23 because 15
scores are above 23 and 15 are below. The mode is the score that
occurs most often. In Table 1 there are actually two modes: 22 and
27. Thus, this distribution is described as bimodal. Calculating the
mean, median and mode are important as each provides different
information for teachers. The median represents the score of the
“middle” students, with half scoring above and below, but does not
tell us about the scores on the test that occurred most often. The
mean is important for some statistical calculations but is highly
influenced by a few extreme scores (called outliers) but the median
is not. To illustrate this, imagine a test out of 20 points taken by 10
students, and most do very well but one student does very poorly.
The scores might be 4, 18, 18, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 20, 20. The mean
is 17.5 (175/10) but if the lowest score (4) is eliminated the mean is
now is 1.5 points higher at 19 (171/9). However, in this example the
median remains at 19 whether the lowest score is included. When
there are some extreme scores the median is often more useful for
teachers in indicating the central tendency of the frequency
distribution.

The measures of central tendency help us summarize scores that

are representative, but they do not tell us anything about how
variable or how spread out are the scores. Figure 2 illustrates sets
of scores from two different schools on the same test for fourth
graders. Note that the mean for each is 40 but in School A the
scores are much less spread out. A simple way to summarize
variability is the range, which is the lowest score subtracted from
the lowest score. In School A with low variability the range is
(45 − 35) = 10; in the school B the range is (55 − 22 = 33).
Figure 2: Fourth grade math scores in two different schools with the same mean but
different variability

However, the range is only based on two scores in the distribution,

the highest and lowest scores, and so does not represent variability
in all the scores. The standard deviation is based on how much, on
average, all the scores deviate from the mean. In the example in
Figure 2 the standard deviations are 7.73 for School A and 2.01 for
School B. In Exhibit 1 below we demonstrate how to calculate the
standard deviation.

EXHIBIT 1: CALCULATING A STANDARD DEVIATION

The scores from 11 students on a quiz are 4, 7, 6, 3, 10, 7, 3, 7, 5, 5, and

9. Complete the following steps:
1. Order scores.
2. Calculate the mean score.
3. Calculate the deviations from the mean.
4. Square the deviations from the mean.
5. Calculate the mean of the squared deviations from the mean
(i.e. sum the squared deviations from the mean then divide by
the number of scores). This number is called the variance.
6. Take the square root and you have calculated the standard
deviation.

Completing the Steps

Score (Step 1: Order) Deviation from the mean Squared deviation from th

3 −3 9

3 −3 9

4 −2 4

5 −1 1

5 −1 1

6 0 0

7 1 1
 Score (Step 1: Order) Deviation from the mean Squared deviation from th

7 1 1

7 1 1

9 3 9

10 4 4

Total: 66  52

Step 2: Calculate Mean

[latex]\displaystyle\text{mean}=\frac{66}{11}=6\\[/latex]

Step 3: Calculate Deviations

[latex]\displaystyle\text{mean}=\frac{40}{11}=4.73\\[/latex]

Step 4–5: Complete the Calculations

[latex]\displaystyle\text{Standard
deviation}=\frac{\sqrt{\sum\left(\text{score}-\text{mean}\right)^2}}{N}\\[/latex]
N = Number of scores

Step 6: Find the Standard Deviation

[latex]\displaystyle\text{Standard deviation}=\sqrt{4.73}=2.17\\[/latex]

The normal distribution

Knowing the standard deviation is particularly important when the
distribution of the scores falls on a normal distribution. When a
standardized test is administered to a very large number of students
the distribution of scores is typically similar, with many students
scoring close to the mean, and fewer scoring much higher or lower
than the mean. When the distribution of scores looks like the bell
shape shown in Figure 3 it is called a normal distribution. In the
diagram we did not draw in the scores of individual students as we
did in Figure 2, because distributions typically only fall on a normal
curve when there are a large number of students; too many to show
individually. A normal distribution is symmetric, and the mean,
median and mode are all the same.

Figure 3: Bell shaped curve of normal distribution

Normal curve distributions are very important in education and

psychology because of the relationship between the mean,
standard deviation, and percentiles. In all normal distributions 34
percent of the scores fall between the mean and one standard
deviation of the mean. Intelligence tests often are constructed to
have a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15 and we illustrate
that in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Normal distribution for an IQ test with mean 100 and standard deviation 15
In Figure 4, 34 percent of the scores are between 100 and 115 and
as well, 34 percent of the scores lie between 85 and 100. This
means that 68 percent of the scores are between -1 and +1
standard deviations of the mean (i.e. 85 and 115). Note than only
14 percent of the scores are between +1 and +2 standard
deviations of the mean and only 2 percent fall above +2 standard
deviations of the mean.

In a normal distribution a student who scores the mean value is

always in the fiftieth percentile because the mean and median are
the same. A score of +1 standard deviation above the mean (e.g.
115 in Figure 4) is the 84 percent tile (50 percent and 34 percent of
the scores were below 115). In Exhibit 10 we represent the
percentile equivalents to the normal curve and we also show
standard scores.

Kinds of test scores

A standard score expresses performance on a test in terms of
standard deviation units above of below the mean (Linn & Miller,
2005). There are a variety of standard scores, including z-scores, T-
scores, and stanines.

One type of standard score is a z-score, in which the mean is 0 and

the standard deviation is 1. This means that a z-score tells us
directly how many standard deviations the score is above or below
the mean. For example, if a student receives a z score of 2 her
score is two standard deviations above the mean or the eighty-
fourth percentile. A student receiving a z score of -1.5 scored one
and one half deviations below the mean. Any score from a normal
distribution can be converted to a z score if the mean and standard
deviation is known. The formula is:

[latex]\displaystyle\text{z-score}=\frac{\text{score }-\text{ mean

score}}{\text{standard deviation}}\\[/latex]

So, if the score is 130 and the mean is 100 and the standard
deviation is 15 then the calculation is:

[latex]\displaystyle\text{Z}=\frac{130-100}{15}=2\\[/latex]
If you look at Figure 4 you can see that this is correct—a score of
130 is 2 standard deviations above the mean and so the z score is
2.

A T-score has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. This

means that a T-score of 70 is two standard deviations above the
mean and so is equivalent to a z-score of 2.

Stanines (pronounced “staynines”) are often used for reporting

students’ scores and are based on a standard nine point scale and
with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 2. They are only
reported as whole numbers and Figure 11-10 shows their relation to
the normal curve.

Grade equivalent sores

A grade equivalent score provides an estimate of test performance

based on grade level and months of the school year (Popham,
2005, p. 288). A grade equivalent score of 3.7 means the
performance is at that expected of a third grade student in the
seventh month of the school year. Grade equivalents provide a
continuing range of grade levels and so can be considered
developmental scores. Grade equivalent scores are popular and
seem easy to understand however they are typically
misunderstood. If, James, a fourth grade student, takes a reading
test and the grade equivalent score is 6.0; this does not mean that
James can do sixth grade work. It means that James performed on
the fourth grade test as a sixth grade student is expected to perform.

Testing companies calculate grade equivalents by giving one test to

several grade levels. For example a test designed for fourth graders
would also be given to third and fifth graders. The raw scores are
plotted and a trend line is established and this is used to establish
the grade equivalents. Note that in Figure 5 the trend line extends
beyond the grades levels actually tested so a grade equivalent
above 5.0 or below 3.0 is based solely on the estimated trend lines.
 Figure 5: Using trend lines to estimate grade equivalent scores.

Grade equivalent scores also assume that the subject matter that is
being tested is emphasized at each grade level to the same amount
and that mastery of the content accumulates at a mostly constant
rate (Popham, 2005). Many testing experts warn that grade
equivalent scores should be interpreted with considerable
skepticism and that parents often have serious misconceptions
about grade equivalent scores. Parents of high achieving students
may have an inflated sense of what their child’s levels of
achievement.

References
Linn, R. L., & Miller, M. D. (2005). Measurement and Assessment in
Teaching 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Popham, W. J. (2005). Classroom Assessment: What teachers need to

know. Boston:, MA: Pearson.
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS