A few other words you might see on testing are Confidence Interval and Qualitative Description. Sometimes when a student tests, you might hear a teacher or parent say, "Well, he was having an off day." or "All the pistons were firing today." The confidence interval is a range of scores your child would fall into if the test were administered 100 times. For example, a 96% confidence interval means there is a likelihood that your child would score within the given range if tested again.

The qualitative description generally consists of words like "average," "below-average," "deficiency," "severe," "above average," etc. Unfortunately, they tend to be an interpretation according to the company that developed the tests. Therefore, they are not always the most helpful terms when sitting at the IEP table. So again, I prefer the numbers; I prefer the percentile.

But Lisa, Why do you prefer percentile to the descriptors? Here is your answer: not only are the terms arbitrary and flexible, but they are sometimes misleading. For example, on one test, say your child scores a 4 on the scaled score. The examiner says this puts him in the "moderately below average range." But, of course, moderately below average can mean different things to different people. But If I told you --- If you line up 100 hypothetical students of the same age, your child would be number 2 in line, with only one child performing lower than him. Well, that shines a different light on the score, don't you think?

You will frequently find that schools use qualitative descriptors in their reports. I don't know if it is to help with shock value, to make a stronger case for fewer services, or because they don't think parents can decipher the numbers. But if you go in and start asking about percentile, the conversation will change.

​Good Luck --- and as always, if you need me, I'm here for you.