CNATRAINST 1500.4F
18 May 1999
THE NAVY STANDARD SCORE
The Navy Standard Score (NSS) is a representation of any score
relative to the average score. The scale is artificially
centered at 50 (that is, 50 is average). Each NSS is a whole
number and the scale is truncated at 20 and 80. The formula for
the Navy Standard Score is:
NSS = (((grade - avg grade)/S.D.)10)+50 rounded.
Where
grade = any student grade
avg grade = the mean grade for the distribution in question
S.D. = standard deviation for that distribution
Example: ENS Smith's flight grade is 3.042. The squadron
average is
3.037 with a standard deviation of 0.012.
NSS = (((grade - avg grade)/S.D.)10)+50 rounded
SS = (((3.042 - 3.037)/0.012)10)+50 = 54.1666
NSS = 54
Example:
ENS Smith's academic grade is 83.8%.
The wing average
is
92.17% with a standard deviation of 2.79.
NSS = (((grade - avg grade)/S.D.)10)+50 rounded
SS = (((83.8 - 92.17)/2.79)10)+50 = 20
NSS = 20
CONSTRUCTION OF CONVERSION TABLES
1. Conversion tables for flight and academic grades shall be
identified as to their applicability to TRAWING/squadron, phase
and effective date.
2. Construct tables to show range of grades or scores which
equate to each standard score. For example 3.012 to 3.014 = 47
3. Annotate each table with the number of students used to
calculate the mean and standard deviation, mean, standard
deviation, highest grade in the sample, and lowest grade in the
sample.
4. Each number of the NSS scale represents one tenth of a
standard deviation. The grade which equates to a NSS of 20 is
three standard deviations below the mean. For example, with an
average flight grade of 3.00 and a standard deviation of 0.015, a
flight grade of 2.955 equates to a NSS of 20. One tenth of the
standard deviation is 0.0015. Each NSS is bracketed by that span
of grades. Thus the average grade of 3.00 equating to a NSS of
50 encompasses the flight grade from 2.99925 to 3.00075 or, for
the table, 2.999 to 3.001 = 50.
E-3
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