Hi-
Maybe I am not going to change the mind of the person who posted:
"None of it means anything. You cannot compare from year to year. It's all political BS."
But for those of you who have an open mind and are willing to _consider_ science and data, please read on.
I'm pretty sure most people would agree that if you do better in school, you are more likely to be better prepared for life after school.
So the question is - do standardized tests accurately measure doing well in school? I think the data shows they are pretty good.
Are they perfect? No, of course not.
Are you or your student more than a score? Of course.
You are more than your blood pressure too, but I'm pretty sure you're not going to tell your doctor your blood pressure is useless the next time you go for a checkup.
We are not saying that if your student gets a low percentile score, they are doomed for life. Not even close.
But you can read more on the PeerPower website about how peer-reviewed research by Stanford and Harvard researchers show that percentile scores are very powerful predictors of future life events like:
* Graduation from high school
* Attending college,
* Attending a higher quality college
* Graduating college on time, and
* Income after school
We even provide links to news articles covering this research, and if you really want to geek out, you can read the original articles:
https://www.peerpowerinc.com/blog/standardized-test-percentile-scores-9-reasons-why-they-matter
And the Virginia Department of Education published a study that showed that students who did better on SOL Math and Writing tests were much more likely to graduate college:
https://vlds.virginia.gov/media/1015/final_ccr_report_on_enrollment_persistence_and_completion-may_9_2014_updated.pdf
I would be happy to answer any questions you have about PeerPower. You can email me at
mnolan@peerpowerinc.com, call me on (571) 250-5958, or use the chat feature on the PeerPower website.
-Michael
Michael Nolan
Founder, PeerPower
See your student's future
https://www.peerpowerinc.com/blog/standardized-test-percentile-scores-9-reasons-why-they-matter
mnolan@peerpowerinc.com
(571) 250-5958