What Is a Quantile Measure?

The Quantile® Framework for Mathematics helps you personalize math learning for students by linking assessment to instruction.

What Student Quantile Measures Tell You

A growing number of math programs and state assessments report Quantile measures. The student Quantile measure is a number followed by the letter “Q.” Quantile measures range from below 0Q to above 1400Q and span the skills and concepts taught in kindergarten through high school. For example, a student’s Quantile measure should be at 1350Q by high school graduation to handle the math needed in college and most careers.

A student Quantile measure helps you to know:

• Which skills and concepts students are ready to learn
• The level of success students are expected to have with an upcoming skill or concept
• How students are growing in mathematics on a single scale across grade levels

How Quantile Measures Help Student Math Achievement

Quantile measures are more than a math score because they help you identify the math concepts your students know and match them with the concepts they are ready to learn.

Quantile measures are linked to specific math concepts. For example, maybe one of your students needs to review one or two concepts before a a current classroom unit on quadrilaterals. Or, they might be able to complete enrichment activities to move ahead even more quickly.

Quantile measures help match students to their “optimal” challenge. When they work on materials that they’re ready to learn, they experience more success and less frustration.

Matching Student Quantile Measures to Skills and Concepts

Mathematical skills and concepts build upon one another. All math learners need to progress through a complex web of skills and concepts that fit together The Quantile Framework for Mathematics has defined almost 500 mathematics skills and/or concepts. Each of these concepts has a measure, and each measure shows how difficult one skill is in relation to the others.

The description of each skill and its Quantile measure is called a Quantile Skill and Concept (QSC). As the difficulty or demand of the skill increases, so does the Quantile measure.

The difference between the Quantile measure of the Quantile Skill and Concept (QSC) and a student’s Quantile measure gauges how difficult that skill or concept may be for a student to learn.

For optimal learning and growth, a student should practice mathematics within a Quantile range of 50Q above and 50Q below his or her Quantile measure.