I know it is ridiculous! We actually have the same issues with Cogat. We are in a very good school district with a mean composite of 111 (50%ile), instead of 100, so what looks like 95% nationwide is only 84%ile locally. On top of it, my daughter is affected by being an older student in the class (November bd), so overall her age local scores look a lot worse than her slightly younger peer in a nearby district (our friends' child).
As a result, the gifted program in our SD is super competitive and doesn't serve its purpose really. I don't know what to do with it, but arguing with the Director of assessments in our school district got me nowhere - he says that 20% of students score at 95%ile or higher, but the gifted program is only designed to accept 7%!!!
