1.1 Stanford 10 Overview: 13 Levels, Subtests, Batteries & Forms

Stanford 10 at a Glance

The Stanford Achievement Test Series, Tenth Edition (Stanford 10 or SAT10) is a nationally normed achievement battery published by Pearson. Pearson describes it as a multiple-choice assessment for grades K-12 that spans reading, mathematics, language, spelling, listening, science and social science, is co-normed with the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition (OLSAT 8), and is available in print and digital formats. Pearson calls the tenth edition "the most current version" of the Stanford series.

Three facts prevent the most common misunderstandings:

• It is not the SAT college admissions test. "SAT10" is Pearson's abbreviation for the Stanford Achievement Test, Tenth Edition. The College Board SAT is a different exam with a different owner and purpose.
• There is no pass/fail score. Results are norm-referenced scores (percentile ranks, stanines, scaled scores and similar measures) that compare a student with a national sample tested at the same grade and time of year.
• It is bought and given by schools and testing services. Pearson sells Stanford 10 materials at qualification level B, so families usually test through a school, a homeschool testing service or another qualified provider rather than buying the test directly.

The Stanford series dates to the 1920s. The Arkansas Department of Education's Stanford 10 interpretation guide lists a first appearance in 1923 and revisions in 1929, 1940, 1953, 1964, 1973, 1982, 1989 and 1996, with the tenth edition following. In 2018 Pearson updated the national norms so that scores compare students with a more recent representative sample.

The 13 Test Levels

Stanford 10 is organized into 13 levels. Pearson's scope and sequence chart gives each level a grade range written as grade.month, so "5.5" means fifth grade, fifth month. The concepts tested at most levels are those usually taught in the second half of one school year and the first half of the next, which is why each level straddles two grades.

SESAT stands for the Stanford Early School Achievement Test and TASK for the Stanford Test of Academic Skills. At the TASK levels a single level is used for both fall and spring of the same year.

Which Subtests Appear at Which Levels

The subtests change as students grow. This table summarizes Pearson's Complete Battery scope and sequence:

Complete, Basic and Abbreviated Batteries

• Complete Battery: every subtest for the level. Pearson's guideline totals range from 190 items and 2 hours 15 minutes at SESAT 1 to 402 items and 5 hours 30 minutes at Intermediate 1; Intermediate 2 through Advanced 2 have 372 items and 5 hours 10 minutes, and the TASK levels have 302 items and 3 hours 50 minutes.
• Basic Battery: Pearson defines it as the Complete Battery without Science and Social Science. At Intermediate 2 that is 292 items and 260 minutes instead of 372 items and 310 minutes.
• Abbreviated Battery: shorter versions of the subtests for Primary 1 through TASK 3. For example, Intermediate 2 has 220 items in about 3 hours 7 minutes, and TASK has 200 items in about 2 hours 40 minutes. Reading Vocabulary drops from 30 to 20 items and Reading Comprehension from 54 to 30, so cluster-level information is thinner.

Forms A and D, Print and Online

Pearson sells Form A with 13 levels and Form D with 13 levels "for hand scoring only." The University of Missouri Assessment Resource Center, which sells and scores SAT10, explains that the forms are identical except for the Language subtest: Form A uses a traditional mechanics-and-expression format, while Form D's Comprehensive Language subtest assesses prewriting, composing and editing in a more holistic way.

Pearson's 2018 overview lists online administration for grades 3-12 and paper administration for K-12. Online tests are scored in the platform; Form A paper tests are returned to Pearson for scoring. Pearson reports national norms for fall and spring, and score reports print the norms used (for example "2018 National Spring") along with the level and form.