Teaching · For Teachers · Research and data

Where one score
stands in your
own group.

Paste the scores from a class, a grade or a school and type the score you care about. The calculator gives its percentile rank within that group, shows the counting behind it, and lists the rank of every score in the group.

Find the rankWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the For Teachers toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The percentile rank calculator

The worked example is made up: 40 grade 8 unit test scores out of 50. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Teaching · For Teachers$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
The percentile rank of a score within the group, the percent below and at or below, the counts and steps, and a table of every score’s rank. It prints as a summary and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Teachers comparing scores within a class or grade, data teams, assessment coordinators and graduate students in education.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Up to 3,000 scores. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the For Teachers toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Teachers space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Say what the scores are.
  2. Paste every score in the group.
  3. Type the score to look up.
  4. Read the percentile rank and the table for the rest of the group.
  5. Print the summary or download the spreadsheet.

Find the rank

How the rank is counted

Below, plus half of the ties.

The worked example: where 41 falls among 40 scoresScores below 4126of 40 studentsTied at 413counted as halfMid-point count27.526 + ½ × 3Percentile rank68.827.5 ÷ 40 × 100The worked example: where 41 falls among 40 scoresScores below 4126of 40 studentsTied at 413counted as halfMid-point count27.526 + ½ × 3Percentile rank68.827.5 ÷ 40 × 100
Twenty-six students scored below 41 and three scored 41; counting the ties as half gives a percentile rank of 68.8 within this group.

Three definitions

A percentile rank says what percent of a group scored below a given score. Groups have ties, so there are three common versions: percent strictly below, percent at or below, and the mid-point version used here, which counts half of the tied scores. The mid-point rank treats a tie fairly from both sides and is the one most measurement texts recommend.

Local, not national

This rank compares a score only with the scores you pasted. A percentile on a published test report compares a student with that test’s norm group, chosen and weighted by the publisher, and cannot be reproduced from a class list. Percentile ranks are not equal steps: near the middle a few points move the rank a lot, near the ends very little, so do not average them.

Sources

  1. Crocker, L., and Algina, J. (2008). Introduction to Classical and Modern Test Theory. Cengage: percentile ranks and the mid-point definition.
  2. American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education. (2014). Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, chapter 5: scores, scales and norms.
  3. National Center for Education Statistics. NCES Statistical Standards (nces.ed.gov): reporting percentiles.
  4. NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods, section 7.2.6.2, Percentiles (itl.nist.gov).

The worked example is made up. A percentile rank here is within the scores typed, not a national norm. Your scores stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.