Katie, it’s great that you warned readers not to focus to intently on percentiles that they hear about their children or students. II'm glad that you used your tests-and-measurements knowledge to explain the potential problems with interpreting percentiles. I fear too often people read anything lower than the 90th or 95th percentile as worrying. Yes, the 37th percentile is just fine. There is, as far as I know, only one place where all the children are above average—the imaginary area in Minnesota. And beside that, there are plenty of measure where one would want her child to be in terrifically low percentile…not learning to read, going to jail, becoming a smoker….
Katie, it’s great that you warned readers not to focus to intently on percentiles that they hear about their children or students. II'm glad that you used your tests-and-measurements knowledge to explain the potential problems with interpreting percentiles. I fear too often people read anything lower than the 90th or 95th percentile as worrying. Yes, the 37th percentile is just fine. There is, as far as I know, only one place where all the children are above average—the imaginary area in Minnesota. And beside that, there are plenty of measure where one would want her child to be in terrifically low percentile…not learning to read, going to jail, becoming a smoker….
Thanks, as always, for reading and commenting! Always love hearing from you!