According to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, test scores should ideally be reported in terms of what?

The ideal reporting of test scores, according to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, focuses on using confidence intervals or percentile bands. This approach provides a clearer understanding of an individual's performance relative to a normative group and accounts for the inherent measurement error associated with testing.

Confidence intervals illustrate the range within which a test score is likely to fall, offering a probabilistic view that is more informative than a single score. Percentile bands, on the other hand, contextualize a score within a distribution of scores, indicating the percentage of test-takers who scored lower or higher. Both methods enhance the interpretation of scores by acknowledging that an individual's performance can vary and may not accurately reflect their true capability due to various factors, such as test anxiety or contextual variables.

In contrast, using raw scores, mean scores, or standard deviations alone can be limiting. Raw scores do not provide insight into how an individual compares to others or the potential variability of their score. Mean scores offer an average, which might overlook important individual differences. Standard deviations provide information about the spread of scores but do not effectively communicate an individual’s position relative to others. Therefore, reporting scores in terms of confidence intervals or percentile bands is seen as the most informative and appropriate method.