Can someone who understands tests better than I do explain how one wrong is 94th and 8th stanine. Thanks!
I don't have any particular knowledge about that test, but in our experience, this happens when the ceiling is too low uniformly. So, if 1% of kids got a perfect score on decoding, they would be in the 99th %-ile. However, if the next 5% all got only one wrong, they would all fall in the 94%-ile. According to Hoagies stanine 9 is usually 96%-ile and above. Stanine 8 is 89-95th. It's very frustrating. Our HS uses standardized testing to place kids and every year they were requiring the same number to place into Honors English. One year, it was apparently too easy and even getting one wrong put you below the percentile needed. How ridiculous (at least imho) that only kids with a perfect score would have qualified. They did end up realizing it (my kids weren't at that age, but my understanding is many parents complained) and changing it, but those stanines and percentiles don't always tell you a whole lot.
Our MS uses the Gates to get into gifted (among other tests) and interestingly enough, they only give you the percentile, not any raw scores. Hmmmm... maybe they don't want the backlash!
