Does anyone know of a place where test scores can be found for the NYS tests. My daughter achieved a perfect score on her grade 3 math state test and I am trying to figure out approximately how many students actually got the perfect score. Thanks for the help.
The number of perfect scores is not in these files, but this page does have links to excel spreadsheets with the numbers of students in each grade who scored in each category, by various categories:
I don't think they release that degree of detail. We have not gotten our scores yet, but our kids both got perfect scores last year and the report listed the percentile as 99.
The link above is just for NYC, by the way; I think by googling you should be able to find the same info for the state, and for your individual school and district. Our school posts it online, and our newspaper prints links to the locally relevant database.
Thank you for the responses. The most difficult thing about this is the lack of understanding of what these scores mean. 99% is a long ways from 99.9% and I do not know how unusual it is to get a perfect score. Do you know of any correlation with the state tests and any other tests?
While I am not familiar with the NY state tests, my middle kid had perfect math scores on the PA (PSSA) math tests in 4th and 8th. When she was in 4th grade, they still published detailed charts with the scores. There are typically about 70 questions on the test, and about 1 in 200 kids got a perfect score.
Kid also got perfect writing scores on the PSSA in 5th and 8th, but don't know how frequent those perfect scores are.
Don't know if the tests are similar, but when we mentioned the 4th grade results to the school, they said they expect all of their students to score like that. Of course, they don't all have perfect scores, but given the number of gifted/very bright kids in our district, there are likely some perfect section scores each year in every grade.
Unfortunately, the state tests test grade level stuff. So while a perfect scorer is likely operating above grade level, just how far above is tough to tell.
The only charts I have seen list the scores by their category- here (NY state) scores are assigned to a grouping (1-4, 3 and 4 are considered proficient, 4s are exceeding standards). So one can find how many kids scored 4s, but I have never found specific score data. Even the percentile data is new as of last year. Previously all you got was a raw score and a "4" or whatever.
I agree, the percentile is not very helpful. However, I suspect that high and perfect scores are not that rare- in our district, more than 85% of kids are scoring in the proficient (3s and 4s) ranges, with about half the kids getting 4s. Of course, the scores are bolstered by our district's strict policy against acceleration or skipping, so I suspect there are many kids who are working at levels above that measured by the test.
On the contrary, I think that the percentile information is extremely useful.
If too many people get into the 99th percentile (than could reasonably be predicted)'then the test is too easy. Conversely, if too many people end up in the lower percentiles then either the test to way too hard or the teaching sucks - take your pick LOL. Either way I think it is useful at a macro level. Also, down in the weeds at the micro level it would reveal a lot about an individual child in terms of academic placement. Politics obviously trumps science so such information is probably never even calculated lest it get leaked.
Here in NJ, the bands are very broad - partially proficient, proficient and advanced proficient. My DD was in the last band for Maths, Science and LA. But her LA score 251/300 lagged her scores in the other two areas by 49 points. Advanced proficient scores vary from 250/300 to 300/300. I would dearly like to see what percentile my DD is in particularly as her VCI (150) is significantly higher than her PRI (145) [this is without extended norms] and her LA trails her Maths and Science score by a very wide margin.
Pssst: If anyone knows a way of getting this information then please share it