Assessment, Statistics, and Research

What are age scores? Age scores, also called age-equivalent scores , are supposed to help people understand how a person’s test score compares to other people of the same age. They are often provided to teachers and parents to show how children scored on achievement tests compared to their age peers. A common age-equivalent abbreviation is AE .  Age scores are reported with a hyphen. The first number refers to age in years and the second number refers to the age in months. A score of 8-4 is supposed to mean a test performance typical of children age 8-years and 4-months. The scores appear convenient and make a kind of common sense. An age score of 7-6 is supposed to mean that a child earned a test score similar to children age 7-years and 6-months. But there are problems with the scores. What tests report age scores? Age scores are commonly reported with results of achievement tests. They are sometimes reported with results of intelligence tests. Old i...