Submitted by Michael on Sat, 02/22/2020 - 16:14
A: PeerPower customers (typically parents) use the percentile scores in different ways. Some customers simply feel better having a more complete picture of where a student ranks compared to his or her peers. There are many other scenarios where percentile scores are valuable, here are the most common examples:
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Recent research has shown that students with higher percentile scores are more likely to graduate high school, attend and complete college, and have higher incomes.
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Others have used the percentile scores to understand where a student ranks if the student's score declined from one year to the next because the test became more difficult. For example, if Ryan took the 3rd Grade Math test and got a 500, but the next year the Math tests got harder and Ryan's score declined to 450, a PeerPower percentile score could tell a parent that Ryan was in the same percentile for both years, because the test got harder for everyone. In that situation, a parent might be concerned when a student's score declined, but when they learn the percentile score stayed the same, many parents value that information because it gives them a better picture of where the student stands academically.
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PeerPower Percentile Reports can be an early warning signal about how your child performs on standardized tests.
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College admissions officers still value standardized tests like the SAT and ACT as a tool to help them compare applicants with a standard measurement. Many PeerPower customers have told us they were very confident their child who got good grades would have no difficulty being admitted to the college of their choice, only to have them perform very poorly on the SAT or ACT. They then realized too late that their child did not perform well on standardized tests and ended up attending a college that was not their first choice as a result. One parent told us how she thought her straight-A multiple varsity sport daughter would for sure attend an Ivy league school or similar but when she "bombed the SAT" her daughter "did not even get into [the fourth most selective state school in her state]". This parent told us that she would have used PeerPower to help identify standardized test challenges earlier and to take steps to help her daughter become better at standardized tests.
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PeerPower Percentile Reports can be shared with students if parents feel that it would be helpful.