Understanding Performance Data

Reports provide student assessment performance data. Depending on the assessment, a report may display many types of performance data, including the following:

Score Data: This type of data is used for tests with numeric scores. Score data provide a quantitative measurement of student assessment performances. Scores may be either scale scores or raw scores, the latter of which may be in the form of percentages or fractions. The following columns involving score data may appear in reports:
- Score: This column displays an individual student’s score.
- Percent Correct: This column displays an individual student’s score as a percentage.
- Average Score: This column displays the mean average assessment score for a group of students.
- Average Percent Correct: This column displays the mean average assessment score as a percentage for a group of students.
Performance Level Data: This type of data is used for tests with performance levels. Performance levels provide qualitative measurements of students’ proficiency in relation to a particular standard or set of standards. The following columns involving performance level data may appear in reports:
- Performance: This column displays an individual student’s performance level.
- Performance Distribution: This column displays a performance distribution bar. The numbers below each region indicate the percentage and count of students in a group who performed at that level.
- Percent Proficient: This column displays the total percentage of students in a group who achieved proficiency, as determined by performance level.

If an assessment does not use a certain type of measure, that measure column does not appear. Where results are shown for multiple assessments, those columns may be present but display “n/a” wherever a measure is not applicable.

After a score, you may notice a number with “±” before it. For an individual student’s score, this is the standard error of measurement (SEM). A student’s score is best interpreted when recognizing that the student’s knowledge and skills fall within a score range and not just a precise number. As an example, if a student receives a test score of 75 with a standard error of measurement of 4, that tells us that the student's true score falls between 71 and 79. For average scores at aggregate levels, the number following “±” is the standard error of the mean.

Aggregate measures for adaptive tests may include the following:

Weak or Strong?: You may want to identify strengths and weaknesses in different standards within the topic so you can focus instruction on very specific areas where the most improvement is needed. This column displays icons indicating how students’ average performance on the standard compares with their average performance on the overall test. Note that these icons indicate only relative performance and not proficiency.
Proficient: This column displays icons indicating the average level of proficiency students have attained in the standard.
% Correct: This column displays the average percentage of points earned out of maximum points, adjusted for item difficulty levels. If weak performance is statistically significant, the cell containing the percentage is highlighted and a warning icon appears.

If appears next to student performance data in a report, you can select the button to learn more.