I finally got my very own SCAT score interpretation guide to have and to hold, and am I ever disappointed! There is almost no data in there!
So, here are my questions for Dottie, and other test experts:
1) How do they derive the scaled scores from the raw scores?
2) Would a given raw score translate into the same scaled score for a student regardless of whether they are in 4th grade or 5th grade?
3) Why do the top scaled scores vary from year to year?
It appears to me that this year's top Verbal scaled scores for 4th/5th are several points lower than the top 2008-2009 scores listed in the guide (I'm figuring a 6 point difference, which seems pretty large). How am I getting this? When I look at the bar charts, presumably, the top score for which there is actually a bar is likely the scaled score for a raw score of 50/50 (although I suppose that t could be 48 or 49/50). The next score down, would presumably be 49/50 and so on. Conversely, if your kid scores, say, 47/50, there should only be three possible scores that are higher. Right? The way I'm figuring it, the top scaled score for 4th/5th (if raw scores translate the same for both grades) would be 481 this year (in contrast to a 487 last year, at least for grade 5).
Why do I care? Well if you're supposed to be able to use the bar charts to compare your child with the talent search pool, it doesn't really work that well if the scaled scores aren't exactly comparable.
Not that is really matters, but like many of you, I like my data.
