While most school districts believe they understand grade equivalent scores, teachers, parents, and measurement specialists frequently misinterpret this apparently simple statistical expression. Echternacht's article describes the construction, application, and interpretation of grade equivalent scores from the test publisher's perspective. Although publishers continue to provide this statistic, some urge the use of percentile standards or standard scores when evaluating and reporting test results to the public. Plas, reasoning that a test consumer should choose a statistic which represents relationships that are best understood by the user, discusses the relationships underlying the most commonly used statistics in standardized achievement testing. Of the five--raw score, T-score, stanine, percentile rank, and grade equivalent score--the latter two are the most easily misunderstood and misinterpreted. When the location of average range is mastered for each of the five statistical expressions, the test interpreter is free to decide whether an individual score represents average, below average, or above average performance. (CP)