Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment MAPS testing mess up

My DD still hasn't been allowed to continue her MAP testing she began yesterday. Not only that, the school hasn't given any indication when she and the approximately 30 other children who were affected by a computer glitch. Another grade tested today.

For NWEA MAP .. the score pops up on the screen at the end. Just ask your dd to write down the number!

I think Performance Series gives a score at the end too. The first test she took was reading (a couple days after school started) and she actually remembered that her score was a four digit number and started with a 27, even though I didn't ask her to try to remember. I obsessively looked this up trying to figure out what percentile this might be and it could be anywhere from the 96th percentile to 99th. Arghh. I said "That's great you looked at your score--see if you can remember your math score when you do the math test. We'll see if it went up from your last score." So of course, she had absolutely no recollection later that day, so I have no idea. She's in third grade and said there was addition with exponents on the test as well as long division with decimals, and those things popped up shortly after she started on the first day, so I assume she made it pretty far (and she was distressed she had no idea how to do these things and couldn't understand why the other kids in the class, who were probably answering questions like 25-15, seemed to whip through the test quickly!). Next time I'll ask her to write down the score, but I don't want the teacher to think I'm a fruitcake! I don't think she's even aware of what the district requires in terms of GATE for 4th grade so in her mind, the test probably doesn't matter.

My son (now in 5th grade) has always ran into the 2nd day on MAPs. He always complained he had to finish it during recess or computer lab.
He sucked it up and always did well.
He too would always write down his score on a separate piece of paper.
He always had a goal score in each category.

Don't let them see you stress.

Our kids used to get the score pop up, too. This fall, however, for some reason, our district decided NOT to have the score pop up...so no one knows how they did until October. Since this is rather important for my DD (2 of the 4 criteria to make it into the G&T pool - not the program), this REALLY seems like a long wait. Again, it all depends upon how your schools use the scores - the anxiety for some is that the schools REALLY do make major decisions on the curriculum/programing using the scores, so it would be nice to have them sooner rather than later. Also, last year, the school chose not to share the MAP scores with parents unless you requested and had a meeting with the principal - so if your 6-7 year-old could not remember what flashed on the screen, you did not have a score.

That's ridiculous you have to have a meeting with the principal? School districts should make all testing results easily available to parents, not make it a big mystery. Last school year I didn't find out her winter score until 2 months later at conferences in the middle of March. If they do that again this year, it's going to be too late to even use those winter scores to apply to GATE.
I need to make a decision about whether to keep the kids in the district, move them somewhere else, change schools, etc. Their current school is terrible so I at least need to get them in a different school in the district, if not out of the district altogether. But everything hinges on GATE and the tests (CogAT and Performance Series). If they don't report the winter scores right away I'm going to have to get the info out of the teacher. I feel like a lunatic obsessing about these scores but they are so rigid about them and how they use them to make placement decisions.

Yes, I had to meet with the principal to get my DC's MAP scores last year. We were also told that this year "the winter NWEAs are just for teachers, so you won't get those." Actually, I will probably request those scores, too - because I would like to see whether there have been signs of growth.

I actually believe "FERPA" entitles parents to get their child's scores - but I haven't had to go there - yet.

We just got word that our district is suspending all big group administrations of MAP testing due to computer issues that they have experienced with the recent administration. Supposedly the district is working with NWEA to get these issues resolved. The issues are apparently widespread & not just with a few districts.