How can scaled scores on the Assessment Series be compared from one school year to the next?

This article is intended only for customers and partners using the Assessment Series.

Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, educators can make some kinds of year-over-year scaled score comparisons.

For the 2024-2025 school year, CommonLit established stable cutoff scaled scores for Student Performance Groups (205 for On Grade Level and 220 for Above Grade Level, across all grade levels). Because these cutoff scores will stay the same every year, educators can now make some comparisons from one school year to the next.

Note: Data from school years before 2024-2025 (e.g., the 2023-2024 school year) should not be included in year-over-year comparisons, as cutoff scores changed each school year prior to 2024-2025.

What kinds of comparisons are appropriate?

Educators can make same-grade-level, same-test, cohort-based comparisons.

Example: in 24-25, 8th graders scored an average of 160 on the Pre-Assessment, and in 25-26, 8th graders score an average of 180 on the Pre-Assessment

• Educators could conclude that this year’s 8th graders scored higher than last year’s 8th graders at the start of the year.
• Educators might, after analyzing other sources of information, decide to make broad instructional adjustments to prioritize extension opportunities for this cohort throughout the school year.

Educators may also compare growth across same-grade-level cohorts.

Example: in 24-25, 10th graders grew an average of 3 scaled score points throughout the school year. In 25-26, 10th graders grow an average of 8 scaled score points throughout the school year.

• Educators could conclude that this year’s cohort displayed more growth, as measured by the Assessment Series, throughout the year.
• Educators might reference this comparison when reflecting on what changed in their ELA instruction from school year 24-25 to 25-26.

These same-grade-level cohort comparisons can be made at the class, school, or district level.

Educators should keep some key caveats in mind when making these comparisons:

• Outside factors (student motivation, timing of assessment administration, testing environments, etc.) may influence Assessment Series data.
• No two cohorts of students are exactly alike, so cohort comparisons should be interpreted alongside other information about students and their learning.
• Educators should always consider individual students’ performance on the Assessment Series as well as class-, school-, or district-wide averages.
• These comparisons should be used to inform long-term instructional adjustments.
• These comparisons should not be the basis of high-stakes decisions (e.g., teacher evaluation, deciding what curriculum to implement, etc.).

What kinds of comparisons are inappropriate?

Scaled scores from two different grade-levels should not be compared.

Example: in 24-25, 6th graders scored an average of 210 on their Post-Assessment. Then in 25-26, as 7th graders, the same students score an average of 190 on their Pre-Assessment.

• It would be invalid to conclude that these students regressed between 6th and 7th grades.
• Each grade level’s scaled scores are independent from other grade levels’ scaled scores. In other words, there is no way to compare a scaled score in one grade level to a scaled score in another grade level. Assessment Series tests are designed to measure student growth within one grade level throughout one school year; they cannot measure growth from year to year for groups of students.

An individual student’s scores from two different grade levels should also not be compared.

Example: in 24-25, a student scored 215 on their 11th grade Post-Assessment. Then in 25-26, as a 12th grader, the same student scores 200 on their Pre-Assessment.

• It would be invalid to conclude that this student regressed between 11th and 12th grades.
• Each grade level’s scaled scores are independent from other grade levels’ scaled scores. In other words, there is no way to compare a scaled score in one grade level to a scaled score in another grade level. Assessment Series tests are designed to measure student growth within one grade level throughout one school year; they cannot measure growth from year to year for an individual student.

Growth comparisons between two different grade levels are also not supported.

Example: in 24-25, 4th graders grew by 6 scaled score points throughout the year. Then in 25-26, as 5th graders, the same students grow by 4 scaled score points throughout the year.

• It would be invalid to conclude that these students grew less in 5th grade than in 4th grade.
• Each grade level’s scaled scores are independent from other grade levels’ scaled scores. This means that growth – which is calculated using scaled scores – cannot be compared between two different grade levels.