How does CommonLit define Below & Approaching Grade Level, On Grade Level, and Above Grade Level?

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

Students who take a CommonLit Assessment Series assessment will be placed into a Student Performance Group based on their scaled score. Scaled scores account for both the number of questions students answered correctly and the difficulty of a test, making them a valid measure of students’ reading comprehension and text analysis abilities.

Students will be placed into one of three performance groups:

Below or Approaching Grade Level (150-204): Students are currently below or approaching end-of-year expectations for understanding and analyzing texts.
On Grade Level (205 - 219): Students currently meet end-of-year expectations for understanding and analyzing texts.
Above Grade Level (220-250): Students currently exceed end-of-year expectations for understanding and analyzing texts.

Since these categories reflect end-of-year expectations, it is typical for many students to score below or approaching grade level at the beginning of the year.

Additionally, the score cutoffs for each performance group are the same across grade levels and tests in the series (Pre, Mid, and Post), allowing you to more easily evaluate student performance across time and compare performance at their school year over year.

For more information on how performance groups were developed, please review the Assessment Series Technical Manual.