Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment MAP literacy scores

I see a few questions here on MAP math scores, but our issue is literacy. My ds10 is in 4th grade and received 232 in reading. He showed 132 IQ in second grade on the verbal subtest. I'm confused because the MAP chart caps out at 222 in 11th grade. So does this mean his literacy is above an 11th grade level? I'm trying to figure out how to advocate if so, or if I'm reading the chart wrong. They have not done language use yet, but I expect it to be about the same.

Can you explain further? There is no literacy score in NWEA MAP? NWEA has reading, math, science and language usage.

Sometimes in life you just need to turn the page. In this case, I'm guessing you literally need to turn the page.


222 is the 49th percentile for 11th grade, the last one listed on page 98, the Winter Reading Percentiles in the 2015 report. On the next page are the 50-99th percentiles.

232 in Reading in 4th grade is 97th percentile.
132 on an IQ test with a Standard Deviation of 15 is 2.133SD above norm, which corresponds to a very consistent 98.3 percentile.

If your question is mainly regarding advocacy and instructional placement, then I would not get hung up on the grade equivalent, since it usually has very little connection to instructional level. I generally recommend placement testing using materials from the curriculum used by the school, such as unit and year-end summative assessments.

So sorry! Reading. I wasn't clear if Language Use was reflected in this same score (we've moved a lot and I feel like I'm constantly digging through the mechanics of various tests). Looks like Language Use is coming up and I expect the score to be about equivalent.

Haha! Thank you. I'm guessing you're right and will double check this eve.

Yes, that's true. He was in a gifted program last year in a different state that did things (including evaluating instructional readiness) very differently. Seeing the MAP scores correlated so specifically to grade levels kind of threw me off, and it's been hard to figure out how this state (Ohio) uses them, if there are district variations, etc. This is a good reminder to follow up by asking what tools and processes they use next to accommodate, and to be sure they're appropriate.

As you already know, 232 is a strong MAP Reading score for 4th grade winter. At 97 percentile, your DS should qualify for most GT reading classes (except for those which have a strict 98 percentile or higher cut-off). However, remember that MAP is strictly multiple choice and untimed so does not address output and efficiency issues. Furthermore, local percentiles may vary considerably from national ones. You really need to sit down with your school or district to figure out the lay of the land.