Disclaimer

US Academic Scores provides education assessment data, comparisons and explanatory material for informational and research purposes. Content should be interpreted within the definitions, populations, measurement methods and limitations of the original assessment sources.

Information published on US Academic Scores is intended to help readers understand publicly available results from major education assessments, including PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS, NAEP and ICILS.

The website does not provide educational, legal, financial or professional advice. Assessment results and related analysis should not be used as the sole basis for decisions affecting an individual student, teacher, school, district or education system.

US Academic Scores is an independent informational website. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or operated by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, the Nation’s Report Card, the OECD, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement or any other assessment organization referenced on the site.

Names of assessment programs, agencies and organizations are used to identify the sources and subjects of the information presented.

Education assessment data can change when official agencies publish revised estimates, corrected tables, updated technical documentation or new assessment cycles. A value shown on the site may therefore differ from an earlier release of the same dataset.

Reasonable care is expected when presenting scores, percentages, proficiency levels, benchmarks and comparisons, but no representation is made that every page will remain free from errors, omissions or delays in reflecting newly released information.

When a difference exists between information presented on US Academic Scores and the current official source, the official source should be treated as authoritative.

Large-scale education assessments generally report estimates based on samples of students rather than complete counts of every student in the relevant population. Reported results can therefore be subject to sampling error, measurement error and other forms of statistical uncertainty.

A numerical difference between two scores does not necessarily mean that the underlying populations performed differently in a statistically measurable way. Official significance tests, standard errors and technical qualifications should be considered when they are available.

Tables and charts may order states, countries, education systems or student groups according to a reported metric. Such ordering should not automatically be interpreted as a definitive statistical ranking.

Nearby scores may be statistically indistinguishable, and differences in sampling, population characteristics, participation or assessment design can affect how comparisons should be interpreted.

A ranking for one assessment, subject, grade or year does not represent an overall ranking of educational quality.

PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS, NAEP and ICILS use different assessment frameworks, populations, scales and reporting conventions. Similar subjects measured by different programs should not be assumed to produce directly equivalent scores.

Scores from separate subjects within the same assessment may also use separate scales. Mathematics, reading and science scores, for example, should not be added together or averaged unless an official assessment framework explicitly supports such a calculation.

Historical comparisons depend on the comparability of assessment frameworks, populations, scales and administration conditions over time. A sequence of published scores does not necessarily form a valid continuous trend if the underlying assessment changed materially.

Short-term movement between two assessment cycles should not automatically be interpreted as a long-term trend. Conversely, a long-term pattern may contain individual cycles in which the direction of change differs.

Results reported by race and ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status or other student characteristics describe outcomes for the categories defined by the original assessment source.

Observed differences between student groups do not establish why those differences exist. Assessment data alone generally cannot determine the effects of individual policies, school practices, family circumstances, demographic characteristics or other potential explanatory factors.

Some pages may include calculations based on officially published data, such as numerical differences between scores or percentages derived from complete published distributions.

A calculated value is not necessarily an official statistic issued by the underlying assessment organization. Derived values should be read together with the source data and any explanation accompanying the calculation.

Assessment results may be affected by participation rates, exclusions, nonresponse, sample size, questionnaire coverage, linking error, changes in methodology or other technical conditions.

Where an official source identifies a material limitation, caution or qualification, that information is relevant to interpretation even when the associated result remains officially reportable.

US Academic Scores may link to government agencies, assessment organizations, datasets, reports and other external websites. External links are provided for reference and access to supporting information.

The availability, accuracy, security, privacy practices and content of external websites are controlled by their respective operators. A link to an external resource does not imply responsibility for or endorsement of all content available through that website.

Access to the website, interactive charts, downloadable data features or external resources may occasionally be interrupted by maintenance, technical problems, changes to third-party services or other circumstances.

Important source information should be confirmed directly with the relevant official organization when continuous access or authoritative documentation is required.

Use of information from US Academic Scores is at the reader’s own discretion. Educational assessment results should be considered alongside their methodological context and should not be treated as complete measures of students, schools, communities or education systems.

Nothing on the site should be interpreted as a guarantee of educational outcomes or as a prediction of future assessment performance.