ISEE Scoring Information

With ISEE test scores pouring into the Admission Office, we want to provide some information about how to interpret ISEE scores and the role they play in our admission process.

Test results are just one of many factors that Gilmour’s Admission Committee utilizes to gain a more clear understanding of each student’s academic profile. We also gather and review transcripts, essays and teacher recommendations.
Since students apply to Gilmour from many different schools around greater Cleveland, across the United States and around the world, the ISEE (offered nationally and internationally) helps provide a common denominator. The ISEE exam is one of two assessments (the other being the SSAT) that is most commonly used by independent schools throughout the United States.
The ISEE is designed to measure both aptitude (a student’s innate ability to learn) through the verbal reasoning and quantitative reasoning sections and achievement (what a student has learned or internalized from what has been covered) through the reading comprehension and mathematics achievement sections. The test profile lists three scores for your child:
- Scaled Score: This score provides the means of comparing the performance of students taking different forms of the ISEE nationwide.
- Percentile Rank: This ranking indicates how a student tested relative to other students who have taken the same level test in recent years. Percentiles range from 1% to 99%. For example, a percentile rank of 65% means that the student scored better than 65% of the children who have taken the test, while 34% of the children had higher scores.
- Stanine: As compared to percentiles, which give a precise indication of how a student stands in comparison to others, it is also helpful to view the score in broader or more general terms. Stanines are scores that run from a low of 1 to a high of 9. The first stanine is at the low end, and the ninth stanine is at the high end, with the fourth, fifth and sixth stanines considered the middle or average range.
A student’s percentile rank on the ISEE is used to determine if he/she qualifies for one of Gilmour’s merit scholarships. There are two levels of merit scholarship:
- Excel Awards - for students who demonstrate leadership traits and score in the 93^rd percentile or above on the ISEE
- Inspire Awards - for well-rounded students who demonstrate high academic achievement, average in the 65^th percentile or above on the ISEE, are involved in extracurriculars, and serve as role models and a source of inspiration for their peers
Students may take the ISEE a second time, as long as the two test dates fall in different testing seasons. If your child took the test in the fall season (August - November), they can test again during the winter season (December or January) on campus or at any testing location. Click here for full details. Note that while we do not superscore test results, both scores can be submitted with the student’s application.
Parents are often perplexed that the “percentile rank” and the “stanine” on the ISEE are lower than that on some of their child’s previous standardized tests. In order to put these test scores into perspective, you need to understand the group to which your child is being compared (i.e., the norm group). The norm group for the ISEE is the population of students nationwide who are applying to independent schools, a highly competitive academic population. Typically, most other tests your child has taken previously provide percentile scores compared to all children nationwide in that grade and age group; in other words, a much larger group with a wider range of ability.
- To illustrate the significance of the different norms, a student’s reading comprehension score at the 87^th percentile (the top 13%) on the National Norm (the standard you are most used to) equates to about the 50^th percentile (the top 50%) on the Independent School Norm. A general guideline is that students may perform two stanines lower on the Independent School Norm as compared to the National Norm.
There is a common misperception from students or parents of students applying to both independent schools and diocesan or other Catholic schools. Because most diocesan/Catholic schools use standardized tests that report national norms and percentiles, not independent school norms and percentiles (as on the ISEE), the diocesan scores would naturally tend to be higher, and the ISEE scores lower. This does not predict greater success at one school versus another. The test results cannot and should not be compared to each other as equal measures.