Considerable evidence suggests that policy-makers, educators, the media, and the public do not understand national and state test results. The problems appear to be two-fold: the scales on which scores are reported seem confusing, and the report forms themselves are often too complex for the intended audiences. This paper addresses two topics. The first is to make test-score reporting scales more meaningful for policymakers, educators, and the media. Of particular importance in work on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was the use of performance standards in score reporting. The second topic is the actual report forms that are used to communicate results. Results from a recent interview study with 60 participants using the Executive Summary of the 1992 NAEP Mathematics Assessment were used to highlight problems in score reporting and to suggest guidelines for improvement. The burden is on the reporting agency to ensure that reporting scales are meaningful and that reported scales are valid for the recommended uses. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures, and 21 references.) (Author/SLD)