What is stanine?

What is stanine?

• A. An interpretation of placement from 1 to 9 with bands of about one-half a standard deviation, based on percentile values
• B. A measure of reliability
• C. A z-score scale
• D. A scale from 0 to 100

Answer: (A)

Stanine is a nine-point interpretation scale used to classify test performance. It divides the distribution of scores into nine bands, labeled 1 through 9, with each band spanning about half a standard deviation and tied to percentile ranges. This lets you see how a student’s score compares to the norm without getting bogged down in exact percentiles. The middle bands represent typical performance, while the extreme bands show the lowest and highest ends. It’s not a measure of reliability, not a z-score scale, and not a 0–100 scale.

Stanine is a nine-point interpretation scale used to classify test performance. It divides the distribution of scores into nine bands, labeled 1 through 9, with each band spanning about half a standard deviation and tied to percentile ranges. This lets you see how a student’s score compares to the norm without getting bogged down in exact percentiles. The middle bands represent typical performance, while the extreme bands show the lowest and highest ends. It’s not a measure of reliability, not a z-score scale, and not a 0–100 scale.