USNS National Norms and the Global Cohort

Forefront’s Global Cohort allows educators to compare local Universal Screeners for Number Sense results with a large, de-identified dataset of students who completed the same assessment. Schools and districts can access the national dataset for norming, as well as state-level datasets.

In addition to national and state-level norms, educators can compare results for a class, school, district, group, or individual student. These comparisons provide additional context for understanding how local performance relates to that of grade-level peers who completed the same USNS assessment.

Important: Norm-referenced results describe how performance compares with other students in the dataset. They do not indicate whether a student has met grade-level expectations. Use percentile information alongside criterion-referenced performance levels, task-level results, classroom evidence, and professional judgment.

The Global Cohort is created from de-identified, aggregated assessment records contributed by Forefront users across schools and districts. The dataset is dynamic and updated as additional results become available.

Global Cohort comparisons are available only when students complete the original, preconfigured version of an assessment. When an assessment is cloned or modified, its results can no longer be compared directly with the Global Cohort because the tasks or scoring may differ.

The size of the cohort varies by:

For the strongest comparison, review the number of records included in the selected Global Cohort before interpreting the results.

Select Reports from the left navigation menu.

Select the assessments you want to analyze, and then select Next.

The report will initially display results for the classes, schools, or district available to you based on your Forefront role.

In the Cohorts section of the right-side panel, select the plus sign.

Choose Global Cohort to add it to the report, and the Global Cohort results will appear alongside your local results.

If your school or district account has been added to a state-level cohort, a pop-up window will include the option to Filter by District Tags. Open the drop-down menu to compare your students’ results with those of peers in your state-level cohort.

If no option is selected, the national dataset will be used in your reports.

If your school or district should be included in a state-level cohort, such as Alabama or Indiana, but you do not see your state listed in the drop-down menu, contact our support team so the cohort can be added to your account.

Use the Term setting to select the comparison year. Because the dataset is updated over time, a previous term may sometimes contain more records than the current term. Confirm the cohort size and term before interpreting the comparison.

You can select the plus sign again to add other cohorts, including individual classes or locally created groups.

At the top of the report, open Report Type and select Score Histogram.

The Score Histogram displays the distribution of local and Global Cohort results.

Each bar represents a score or range of scores. Hover over a Global Cohort bar to view details such as:

A percentile rank describes the percentage of records in the comparison dataset that fall below a particular result. For example, a percentile range of 3.0–7.9 indicates that the score falls within that portion of the Global Cohort distribution.

Avoid interpreting a percentile as a percentage correct. A percentile describes relative standing within the selected comparison group, not the percentage of assessment content a student answered correctly.

Use the data table beneath the visualization to see how many local students fall within each score range.

Select the appropriate number in the table to open the student records included in that group.

In the right-side panel, locate Column Configuration.

Increase the number of columns to separate the distribution into narrower score ranges. Select the maximum number of columns to view the most specific percentile information available for each possible score.

The precision of a percentile range depends on the number of records in the selected cohort. Larger datasets generally provide more stable comparisons, while smaller cohorts may produce wider or less stable percentile ranges.

If your school or district needs a list of student scores, proficiency bands, or percentile ranges for external reporting requirements, the data table provides a list that can be printed or downloaded.

Select the Data Table as the Report Type, and use the drop-down menu as indicated in the above screenshot to select whether you wish to view proficiency, scores, or percentile ranges in your report.

If you select percentile ranges, you will also need to choose a comparison group. Percentile ranges may be based on a local district-level comparison group or a broader state- or national-level comparison group.

Select Performance Histogram to view the percentage of Global Cohort records within each overall performance level:

This view connects the criterion-referenced performance bands with information about how frequently each level appears within the comparison dataset.

Use the Question Analysis report to compare results task by task. This view can help educators understand whether a local pattern is unique to their students or also appears across the larger cohort. For example, you can compare the percentage of local students demonstrating a particular skill with the percentage of Global Cohort students demonstrating the same skill.

Norm-referenced results answer:

Criterion-referenced performance levels answer:

Neither perspective should be used alone. Review both alongside task-level evidence to identify strengths, unfinished learning, and appropriate instructional next steps.

Important: Global Cohort results should not be used as the sole basis for placement, intervention, acceleration, or other high-stakes decisions. They provide one additional source of evidence within a broader decision-making process.