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Home > Research > FAQ > What is a stanine, and what does it mean?

What is a stanine, and what does it mean?

A stanine is a type of scaled score used in many norm-referenced standardized tests. There are nine stanine units (the term is short for "standard nine-point scale"), ranging from 9 to 1. Typically, stanine scores are interpreted as above average (9, 8, 7), average (6, 5, 4), and below average (3, 2, 1). Using only nine numbers, stanine scoring is usually easier to understand than other scoring models.

Stanine scores are useful in comparing a student's performance across different content areas. For example, a 6 in Mathematics and an 8 in Reading generally indicate a meaningful difference in a student's learning for the two respective content areas. While stanine scores are good at signifying broad differences in performance, they should be used cautiously when making any finer distinctions about performance.