MAP REPORTS

This week, our Discovery School students (grades 1 through 10) will be taking their MAP reports home. As you know, MAP (Measures of Academic Progress™) are computarized adaptive tests that determine your child’s instructional level and measure academic growth throughout the school year, and from year to year in the areas of Math, Reading and Language Usage.

MAP tests are unique in that they are adaptive tests your child took on a computer. That means that the test became more difficult the more questions your child answered correctly. When your child incorrectly answered a question, the test became easier. Therefore, your child took a test specifically created for his or her learning level.

Your child’s MAP results are reported in RIT scores. This is a different type of score than a typical test that provides a percentage correct. It is also different from many tests that provide results based on your child’s score compared to others in his or her grade. Instead, the RIT score is an equal-interval scale, like feet and inches, that is independent of grade level. As a result, we can easily measure growth in learning. This type of score increases the value of the tests as a tool to improve student learning because it enables teachers to recognize where to focus attention for your child’s learning.

MAP testing is a powerful tool for monitoring student growth over time. It allows our teachers to make instructional desicions based on the readiness and needs of each child and class.

MAP reports also provide teachers and parents with a LEXILE score. A Lexile measure is a valuable piece of information about either an individual's reading ability or the difficulty of a text, like a book or magazine article. The Lexile measure is shown as a number with an "L" after it — (i.e. 880L is 880 Lexile.). This allows teachers and students to make adequate choices of reading selections that can be chosen at an appropriate level, and still focus on improving the reading skills needed for each student.

For more information on resources for parents, download the Parent Toolkit at http://www.nwea.org/sites/www.nwea.org/files/resources/ParentToolkit.pdf

Thank you for taking an active interest in your child’s education. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s student if you want to discuss the MAP report further.