HOW TO | Using Reports to Analyze Diagnostic Assessment Results

Overview: You will learn how to read student results from the Diagnostic and Growth Monitoring Assessments.

Understanding Test Scoring

Scale Scores
Scale scores allow you to put everything on a single continuum so that you can compare across grade levels. Scale
scores are a metric indicating that a student has mastered skills up to a certain point, and still needs to work on
skills that come after that point. The scale score is a common language across grades and schools. When looking
at these scores, it’s important to note that the first number in a scale score does not equate to a grade level. For
example, a scale score in the 500s does NOT mean that a student’s grade-level placement is fifth grade.

Scale Score and Placement Level as seen in the Student Profile Report

Placement Levels
The placement level is the practical day-to-day language that helps teachers determine what level of skills to focus
on with a particular student. Placement levels can be simply “Level 4,” or can be ranked as early, mid, or late
Level 4. Placement levels indicate where students should be receiving instruction, either online or in the classroom
(e.g., students that fall within a particular scale score range need to work on early-fourth grade skills).

Reading Overall Scale Score Placement Table

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©2015 Curriculum Associates, LLC User Guide, V 6.0, (30-31)
 HOW TO | Using Reports to Analyze Diagnostic Assessment Results

Math Grades K–8 and Integrated High School Overall Scale Score Placement Table

Math Traditional High School Overall Scale Score Placement Table

How to read these tables:

• Determine the student’s grade level.
• Look at that column to see the range of scale scores that student should have in order to be considered on-level
for his or her grade. For example:
– On the Math Assessment, a student in fourth grade needs to score between 465 and 526 to be considered
on-grade-level for math.
– On the Reading Assessment, a student in fourth grade needs to score between 557 and 629 to be considered
on-grade-level for reading.
• Note that these charts reflect overall scores for both Math and Reading. There are different scale-score ranges
for each domain.

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©2015 Curriculum Associates, LLC User Guide, V 6.0, (30-31)