In discussions of STAR scores, I keep hearing about the "norm group." What is it?

STAR is an acronym for Standardized Testing and Reporting, the name given to California's entire testing program. "Norming" refers to the norm-referenced portion of STAR, which has been the Stanford Achievement Test, or SAT-9.

A norm-referenced test like the SAT-9 compares a student's achievement to "the nation at large." Test publishing companies select a very large group of students (in this case, close to a quarter of a million), taking into account the national range of geographic locations; urban, suburban, and rural communities; socioeconomic and ethnic proportionalities; different grade levels, etc. This group purports to represent all students in the country fairly.

Before the test goes on the market, this large group takes the test. The company scores their answers and considers the results representative of how all students in the nation would have scored. From then on, when any student takes the SAT-9, his or her scores are compared to those of this "norm group."

The norm group for the SAT-9 took the test in 1995. When a student scores at, say, the 56th percentile it means that the student got a score on the SAT-9 that was equal to or better than that of 56 percent of the students in the 1995 norm group.

This year the SAT-9 has been updated and is now called the CAT-6, but it works in just the same way. There are other portions of the STAR test as well. On the CST, or California Standards Test, your child's answers are judged against a predetermined standard, not against a norm. Those results show how many questions she answered correctly and how well she did compared to that standard. They do not show how she did compared to any group.