Scores are the end products of assessment processes. Scores are used for admissions, placement, diagnosis, and other purposes. Scores from different assessments are often compared. The urge to make comparisons can lead someone who would never consider using height as a measure of weight to fall prey to the temptations of presuming that scores from any one educational assessment can be used as substitutes for scores from another assessment, forgetting that assessments are designed for different purposes. This entry discusses the reasons that score linking is performed, how it is performed, and considerations when linking scores from different assessments.

Even when the purposes of two different assessments are similar, linking scores from these assessments can be a challenge. For example, the SAT and ACT are both ...