Throughout the development and administration of the High School Assessments, the Maryland State Department of Education has been attentive and responsive to the requests and needs of Maryland’s school systems and diverse populations. Therefore, the decisions regarding score reports have undergone transition, as outlined and explained in the following reports of Chapter 9:
9.1 Scale Scores
Test scores and achievement (proficiency) levels are expressed in terms of scale scores instead of number-right (raw) scores. Because different questions (test items) are used each time tests are administered in Maryland, students’ raw scores would reflect not only their achievement, but also the difficulty of the particular test the students took. Scale scores are used to simplify direct comparisons of results from different tests.
The original scale score metric was set in 2002 using data from field tests administered throughout the state. Overall scores and those for sections (subtests) from all subsequent tests are expressed on the 2002 scale through a process that accounts for differences in test difficulty (see also Chapter 8.3 of this report).
The original metric was set separately for each subject (content area). Scale score comparisons within subjects, either for different tests or across subtests, are therefore possible (but only when they are statistically reliable). Comparing scale scores from different content areas is not justified.
9.2 Subscore Reporting Categories
Listed here are the reporting categories for each of the high school assessments