Fairfax County Public Schools
No public cutoff; central holistic portfolio review
Open district facts -> Scores explained
Gifted testing scores explained without fake cutoffs.
A score report can feel final. It is not. Score types tell you how a test result is reported, while district policy decides how that result is used.
What score type is on the report?
Percentile ranks, standard scores, stanines, and ability profiles answer different questions. A percentile rank places a score within a comparison group. A standard score shows distance from a publisher scale center. A stanine is a broad 1-9 category.
A parent should not treat those score types as interchangeable. A 90th percentile, a stanine of 9, and a standard score of 120 are not three ways to say the same thing.
What does a high score mean?
A high score means the child performed strongly within the named comparison frame for that score type. Program placement still follows the district process.
Qualitative bands can be useful for parent interpretation, but this page does not publish score crosswalks, norm tables, or all-district eligibility thresholds.
Are there gifted cutoff scores?
Sometimes a district publishes numeric criteria, referral triggers, or placement bars. Sometimes it explicitly uses holistic review without a single public cutoff. Sometimes a number opens a review but does not decide eligibility.
The right phrasing is district-specific: "FCCPS publishes criteria bands" is very different from "every district uses this percentile."
What verified districts publish about cutoffs
These rows come from the same verified district records as the district pages. Each cutoff or no-cutoff statement links to the official district source for criteria.
Loudoun County Public Schools
No current live cutoff; eligibility described as holistic committee review
Open district facts ->Arlington Public Schools
No public cutoff; holistic case-study committee
Open district facts ->Montgomery County Public Schools
No rank-order cutoff; CES candidate pool uses lottery when seats are limited
Source: www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org ↗
Open district facts ->Alexandria City Public Schools
Publishes referral triggers, not a final eligibility cutoff
Open district facts ->Falls Church City Public Schools
Publishes numeric criteria bands, but no single score is decisive
Open district facts ->Howard County Public School System
Publishes percentile criteria for some placements; Accelerated Math has a higher bar
Open district facts ->Prince William County Public Schools
No public cutoff; holistic committee profile
Open district facts ->Score facts this page can safely state
CogAT SAS
Riverside describes CogAT Standard Age Score as a normalized score with mean 100 and standard deviation 16.
NGAT standard score
MHS says NGAT standard scores are standardized to mean 100 and standard deviation 15.
Percentile rank
Publisher report materials define percentile rank as a comparison rank, not the percent of items correct.
Parent questions
What is a good CogAT score?
There is no universal answer. Riverside defines CogAT score types, but districts decide how CogAT scores are used in screening or placement.
Is percentile rank percent correct?
No. Percentile rank compares the score with a norm group. It is not the percent of questions answered correctly.
Can I convert SAS to percentile myself?
Do not use unsourced internet score charts for district decisions. Read the publisher report and district policy instead.
Do gifted programs use one cutoff?
Some publish criteria or referral triggers, but many use multiple measures or holistic review. The district source controls the answer.
Sources used for this guide
- Riverside Insights - CogAT score descriptions info.riversideinsights.com
- MHS Help Center - Scoring options help.mhs.com
- Pearson Support - Score report sampler support.pearson.com
Naglieri General Ability Tests™ (NGAT) is a trademark of Multi-Health Systems Inc. (MHS), used here for identification purposes only. Reasonwell Press is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or licensed by MHS or Dr. Jack Naglieri, and MHS was not involved in producing our materials. Our practice materials are original NGAT-style items, not actual test questions, and do not guarantee any score or placement outcome.
CogAT® and Cognitive Abilities Test™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Riverside Assessments, LLC (Riverside Insights), used here for identification purposes only. Reasonwell Press is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or licensed by Riverside Insights, and Riverside Insights was not involved in producing our materials. Our practice materials are original CogAT®-style items, not actual test questions, and do not guarantee any score or placement outcome.
NNAT® is a registered trademark of NCS Pearson, Inc., used here for identification purposes only. Reasonwell Press is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or licensed by NCS Pearson, Inc., which was not involved in producing our materials. Our practice materials are original NNAT®-style items, not actual test questions, and do not guarantee any score or placement outcome.
OLSAT® is a registered trademark of NCS Pearson, Inc., used here for identification purposes only. Reasonwell Press is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or licensed by NCS Pearson, Inc., which was not involved in producing our materials. Our practice materials are original OLSAT®-style items, not actual test questions, and do not guarantee any score or placement outcome.