Research Results | CRAE – Center for Research on K-12 Adventist Education

2011 Summary Report (US only)

Data Set

Test data was collected over 4 years: Fall 2006 to Fall 2009.
Survey data was collected over 3 years: Fall 2006 to Fall 2008.
Incomplete test data and scores judged to be invalid were removed.
The final data set used for all analyses included 51,706 students with data gathered for 1, 2, 3, or 4 years.

Grade 3-8 Results

Median composite achievement over the four years was at the 60th percentile (above the national norm).
Median composite ability over the four years was at the 55th percentile (above the national norm).
Mean achievement was almost a third of a grade level higher than predicted based on ability.
Median composite achievement for students tested all four years increased from the 65th percentile in the first year to the 68th percentile in the fourth year.

Grades 9 & 11 Results

Median composite achievement over the four years was at the 65th percentile (above the national norm).
Median composite ability over the four years was at the 62nd percentile (above the national norm).
Mean achievement was almost a third of a grade level higher than predicted based on ability.

Major Relationships

Students in smaller schools achieve as well as those in larger schools as measured by the change from one year to the next.
Students do better the longer they are in an Adventist school.

Definitions

Mean: When all scores are added together then divided by the number of scores, the resulting number – the average – is called the mean.

Median: When scores are ranked from lowest to highest, the middle score is called the median.

Percentile: Percentile is a ranking. It is not the same as percentage. Percentiles are used to show what percent of a distribution lies above and below a particular value. For example, If students score, on average, at the 65th percentile of students nationwide who have taken the achievement test during the same test-taking period, it would mean that the average student scores higher than 65 percent of students in the group with which he is being compared. It also means that the average student scores lower than 35 percent of students in the group with which he is being compared

National Norm: National norms are the achievement levels of nationally representative groups of student at each grade level who took the test under standardized conditions administered by the testing company. These students are called the norm group. When a score is expressed as above, at, or below “the national norm” it is referring to whether the score is above, at, or below the 50th percentile of this norm group.