[zhivota]

My son is in 4th grade (nominally anyway, we homeschool so it doesn't really matter). He takes the MAP test periodically, which scores on a single scale for all grades. You can look up the percentile score for your student's grade, as well as where that score sits on the percentiles for all other grades.

He's ahead in some areas, having some skills from as far as 7th grade, but mostly he's more in the 5th grade band by now. His MAP test score is 50th percentile for 12th grade. This means, basically, he knows more math than 50% of 12th graders who take the MAP test.

This really blew my mind at first, but these kinds of single-scale tests are really valuable for this purpose. We should be reaching for a solid absolute standard, not grading everything on a curve and passing people who haven't demonstrated real mastery.