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Grade Equivalent (GE)

  • Updated

Grade Equivalent scores range from 0.0 to 12.9+. They represent how a student's test performance compares with that of other students nationally.

notes on ge scores

For different programs, GE scores can go below zero. How these values are shown on reports varies between programs:

  • Star Math, Star Reading, and Star Early Literacy Spanish: The minimum GE score is 0, shown as either 0 or < K; values below 0 are shown as < K.
  • Star Math Spanish and Star Reading Spanish: The minimum GE score is 1, shown as 1; any values below that are shown as < 1.
  • Star Early Literacy: The minimum GE score is –1; 0 is shown as 0; values below 0 are given a PK prefix with a number indicating the month, which is the inverse of positive GE values:

    GE Shown on Reports As Meaning
    –1.0 < PK or PK.0 Student in month 0 of pre-Kindergarten
    –0.9 PK.1 Student in month 1 of pre-Kindergarten
    –0.8 PK.2 Student in month 2 of pre-Kindergarten
    . . . . . . . . .
    –0.1 PK.9 Student in month 9 of pre-Kindergarten

For example, if a 5th-grade student has a GE of 7.6, their score is equal to that of a typical 7th grader after the sixth month of the school year. This score does not necessarily mean that they are capable of doing class work at the 7th-grade level. It only indicates that their skills are well above average for their grade level.

A graph showing a bell curve with students placed above the curve at various points; the student at the top of the curve is highlighted, and has the label: Scaled Score of an average 7th-grade student in the 6th month of the school year. Another highlighted student is shown to the left, and has the label: Assessed Scaled Score of a 5th-grade student; a GE of 7.6 is shown below. An arrow with the score 783 is drawn between the highlighted students.

A GE score preceded by a "greater than" sign (>) is a capped score. GE scores in excess of three grade levels above the student's actual grade are capped, meaning that such GE scores are shown as "> [student's actual grade level + 3]." This prevents the misinterpretation that students with excessively high GE scores are capable of work at those higher grades.

GE can be found on the following reports:

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