What are Percentile Scores?
In contrast to stanines, percentiles give parents a more detailed description of how their children compare with other students who took the test by showing scores that range from 1 to 99. For example, if a student scored in the 66th percentile on a test, that student achieved a score that is higher than 66% of the other students who took the test. So, if 1,000 students took the test, the student in the 66th percentile scored higher than 660 students who also took the same test. Do not confuse percentile with percentage correct scores. Percentile scores allow you to compare one student’s scores with a group of students who took the test. Percentage correct scores simply reveal the number of items that a student answered correctly out of the total number of items.
