HayU Blog

This blog was originally published May 2018. It was updated November 2024.

In an ever-changing school admissions landscape, ‘tis the season to revisit the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) and how the scores work. Like all standardized tests, the ISEE is a notoriously blunt instrument. It’s known to invoke varying levels of stress in many of those who choose to sit for the exam—even when they’re academically stronger for the effort it takes to prep well.

It also provides data that’s hard to digest, let alone rely upon as an accurate predictor of academic potential and future performance.

So what are these cryptic stanines (1-9) anyway, and what do they mean?

To be fair, Educational Records Bureau (ERB) does provide this detail about stanines in their official guide, What to Expect on the ISEE: “In general, a stanine score of 1-3 is below average, 4-6 is average, and 7-9 is above average.” 

Why won’t the independent schools just tell us what ISEE numbers are required for their golden admissions gates to swing open for our deserving sons and daughters?

If only there were a simple formula to crack the admissions code. ERB publishes a primer called Understanding Your ISEE Scores, so start there for some valuable context about how the scoring works.

We’re going to focus on the one column in the Test Profile section with the data that matters most to admissions officers: “Stanine.” And while it’s true that stanines are derived from other data points, I’m not convinced those underlying stats matter much in the eyes of admissions officers. 

If you Google hard enough, you can find another document from ERB with critical intel you won’t otherwise read until your child receives official test scores, Understanding the Individual Student Report. 

It’s better for you to learn about this now, before those official scores become available and you forget. Here’s an excerpt from what ERB says about their stanine score range system:

“On any standardized test, a student’s score can be a little higher or a little lower if they take the exam again, even if their skill level remains the same.”

This sounds reasonable at first blush. Kids can have a good or bad day, and scores can shift. Reasonable, right?

But here’s the kicker that follows: “To reflect that variability, our score report includes a shaded range around each stanine.”

It sure does!  In fact it’s a wildly elastic range that typically encompasses three stanines, even though it sits atop one particular number–the down and dirty stanine anchor number admissions officers use. Only the blessedly few who score at a 9 are provided a range between 8 and 9, by the way.

So why do I get the feeling most admissions officers understandably never see or read this last bit of context? And even if they do, how can they possibly be expected to account for such a mathematically mystical discrepancy?

If you’re a parent or an educator, you still want the inside track on exactly what stanines all these schools want to see.

My only true answer: It all depends.

All schools take a holistic approach to balancing their incoming classes with promising students. Some schools care too much about ISEE data. Others are refreshingly dismissive of ERB and all those three letters represent. Regardless, schools don’t conspire against great kids with a secret, pre-set formula for ISEE stanines designed to knock out applicants. They do want to ensure the children they accept are most likely to thrive if they choose to attend.

Let’s practice thinking differently about this process, using our brains in a way standardized testing never rewards. Kids come from schools with wildly different curriculums, only to slog through a one-size-fits-all assessment on one particularly stressful day. Test results likely reveal far more about a school’s curricular choices and focus on test taking than they indicate about an individual child’s academic achievement and potential.

And since admissions officers know your child’s school curriculum, I insist on believing this unconventional lens on admissions counts for something.

Whenever parentally possible, try shifting the conversation with your children away from talk of stanines. Instead we can dialogue about the essential skills they’re learning, the ones they take with them long after the ISEE has faded from your family’s rearview mirror: vocabulary development, active reading and test taking strategies, timed writing and plenty of great math.

Here’s my final piece of advice: we can partner with our children to decide how much time and treasure should be devoted to test prep in general. Our kids can choose to keep climbing Mt. ISEE or end their hike early, after all. Besides, it’s not the last mountain they’ll ever face. Either way, they’ll receive good academic nutrition on the way for as long and far as they choose to climb.

Kids can’t control stanines, but they can control their effort. Let’s spend more time praising them for working hard and doing their best. Only then can we love them just as fiercely and unconditionally as they deserve—no matter what those stanines might look like.

Matthew Hayutin, M. Ed

Founder & Partner, Hayutin Education