Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Horrible Meeting With DD's Teacher

I feel there are multiple reasons that she's become stressed about taking the MAP test.

Because it's an adaptive test and operates by RIT level (not age or grade level) she may get questions asking her about high level topics with very complex text way outside of her grade or age level but right on her RIT band. This can produce anxiety for kids who like to be "perfectionists" as DD often does when they see they got a "bad" score as DD already experienced earlier this year. Like another poster on this forum today DD can read but other interests are taking over and school is not working at an appropriate level.

Also our district switched to a "standards based grading system" which is entirely new from when DD's older sister went through the program 2 years ago. They no longer give letter grades and IMO, many teachers are using this system to coast along, especially with high ability by not giving any type of test. For instance, DD has only had 3 reading assessments (not called "tests" anymore) for the entire school year. All were pretty easy multiple choice (as they are only grade level) with no work involved. DD has essentially gone through school with no "tests" except for MAP and all "S's" (Satisfactory) on her report card.

Some people may not have an issue with this, but for some kids, taking a test can be a skill they need to learn and when they are not overly confident (like DD) and tend to be anxious about it when it occurs with no warning (as happened every time this year) it can really mess them up. Same as what happens when kids are not challenged in high school and they reach college and can't keep up feeling overwhelmed.

For kids in the 98th and 99th percentile when they start to feel themselves falling due to a classroom with lowered expectations and preferring to spend time with friends getting away from important things like making time to read regularly or their enjoyment of reading suffers (as I believe DD does) then the MAP test starts at a much higher place and they don't receive instruction on that level, it can seem extreme. Also it's frustrating as a parent when the school has a goal of getting 80% of the 3rd graders to the 65th percentile and you question who will ever care about your child in the 98th percentile (which we learned this year, no one).

I know that DD's aunt administers MAP at her school for special needs kids in the 5th grade and they were required to take it and it was asking some students what the word "synthesis" as it related to a passage in Shakespeare was. Those kids were totally lost and I'm sure they'll have no love for the MAP test going forwards either. Another friend has a son whose school has just started taking MAP and he has major anxiety afraid that he may not "pass".