Calculate the raw score. According to the Texas Education Agency, the raw score is the basic score achieved in a test. The score accounts for the number of questions that a student answered correctly. The raw score grades a student based only on a particular set of questions in math, reading, writing social studies or science. For example, if the number of questions in the math test was 56 and a student answered 50 of those correctly, then the raw score would be 50/56.
Convert the raw score to the scale score. The scale score is calculated by entering the raw score into a conversion scale; this scale can be obtained from the Texas Education Agency website. With a scale scores, a student's performance can be understood by comparing how well other students have performed in a set of questions. This offers insight into whether the student's performance is improving across the years.
Calculate the percentile ranking. A TAKS scale score frequency distribution is required to obtain this percentage. Obtain the frequency distribution from the Texas Education Agency website. Use a simple formula to carry out the calculation that is PR(X)=((F/2+L)/N)100, where PR is the percentile rank, X is the scale score to be converted, F is the frequency of the scale score, L is the cumulative frequency of the next lowest scale score and N is the number of people tested.
Use the variables in the formula to determine the percentile rank a student has scored on the TAKS test. Converting the scales score to a percentage makes these scores more understandable for both students and parents. Unlike the four-digit number on the scale score, a percentile for the overall performance is more meaningful; percentile ranks represent what percentage of students scored lower than that rank. For example, a percentile rank of 50 means that the student performed better than 50% of students (an average result) and a percentile rank of 95 means that the student performed better than 95% of students (a very good result).