MeritScores: adaptive computer assessments
Launch an account-less class test — students join with a code and each one gets questions tuned to their level. Answers are computer-scored into a MeritScore: a scaled ability measure (200 is the average MeritBoard student) that follows each student over time.
Taking a test?
Type the code your teacher gave you.
A parent?
Your child’s MeritScore appears in your family account after a teacher gives a proctored test in class. Practice does not create one.
No student accounts
Join with a class code and pick your name.
Adaptive per student
Each child gets questions tuned to their level — challenging, never dispiriting.
Practice at home
Per-student practice links, anytime.
What we test: five categories, no surprises
Every MeritScore maps to one of five categories. Here is exactly what each one covers, so teachers and families know what gets asked — and what doesn’t.
Mathematics
From early counting to calculus: number sense, operations, fractions, algebra, geometry, data & probability — aligned to the US curriculum.
Science
Life, physical, and earth science, plus science practice itself: asking questions, designing experiments, and reasoning from evidence.
History / Social Studies
US and world history, government and civics, and the documents, events, and people students are expected to know.
Language Arts
Reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and conventions, and literary knowledge — enduring authors, works, and genres.
General Knowledge
Practical life-and-world knowledge — distinct from the academic subjects. Topics grow with level: counting coins at the early levels becomes compound interest and credit at the upper ones. No pop culture, no riddles, no trivia.
Levels, not grades
Questions are organized into Levels 0–13. Every test is adaptive: difficulty tunes to each student, aiming for a fair challenge rather than frustration. A student’s test level is not their school grade.
How we keep it fair
- • Short written answers instead of multiple choice, so guessing doesn’t pay.
- • Every question is independently reviewed by a second computer system before it is used.
- • Every question is reviewed for trick wording and cultural bias; facts must be stable and verifiable.
- • We never train AI on student work.
What does 200 mean?
- 200 is the average. It is where the average MeritBoard student lands. Above 200 is above that average; below 200 is not there yet.
- It is not a grade. It is not a grade level, a state standard or a percent correct.
- The percent is something else. The percent under a score compares the student only with MeritBoard students in the same grade.
- It moves. Every proctored test firms it up, especially early on, while the score is still provisional. It can shift a little with no new test, because it is measured against other students. Practice never moves it.
The PDF: for principals, districts, and families.