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The Welshman, who turned 50 in March, eclipses his compatriot Ray Reardon, who won the title six times and appeared in the 1982 final as a 49-year-old.

Both players had opportunities to clinch a tense final frame but when Higgins rattled the jaws of the corner pocket on the blue, the Welshman capitalised to become the oldest player to reach the last four since 52-year-old Ray Reardon in 1985.

Given that grades, teacher feedback and comparison with peers can be subjective or vary from class to class or from school to school, “the standardized score and its label might be important in shaping how well students and parents understand the students’ skill levels relative to a common standard,” said Sean F. Reardon, professor of poverty and inequality in education at Stanford.

“Test scores in Compton were increasing rapidly before the pandemic, and have continued increasing,” said Sean F. Reardon, professor of poverty and inequality in education at Stanford University.

Today, Reardon said, Compton has matched the state average in math and stands about one-third of a grade level below the state average in reading: “That’s a remarkable and sustained pattern of improvement over the last decade.”