Measure progress from a pre-test to a post-test — the point gain and the percentage improvement. The basic before-and-after metric for showing student or cohort growth.
The example
From 60 to 78.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Item | Value |
| 2 | Gain | +18 pts |
| 3 | Growth | +30% |
The formula
The formula:
How it works
How it works:
- Point gain = post-test − pre-test — the absolute improvement.
- Percent growth = gain ÷ pre-test — improvement relative to the starting point.
- A 5-point gain means more for a student who started at 50 than one who started at 90.
- For a class, compare average gains or use a normalized gain to account for the ceiling.
Normalized gain accounts for how much room there was to improve: (post - pre) / (100 - pre) — the share of the possible gain that was achieved. A student going 90→95 captured half the remaining 10 points (0.5), the same normalized gain as 50→75. It’s fairer than raw percent growth for comparing students at different starting levels.
Try it: interactive demo
Pre and post scores.
Variations
Point gain
Raw difference:
Normalized gain
Of possible:
Class average gain
Cohort:
Pitfalls & errors
Percent vs points. A percentage growth needs the pre-score as the base — don’t mix with point gain.
Pre of zero. Percent growth divides by the pre-score — a 0 breaks it.
Ceiling effects. High starters can’t gain much; normalized gain is fairer.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
How do I measure growth between two assessments in Excel?
What is normalized gain?
How do I show cohort growth?
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