Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Should I be concerned? MAP SCORE

I've found my way to this board on several occasions when I have been trying to get a better understanding of MAP scores and now find myself with a question.

I have a son who just entered into second grade. He was recognized in pre-school as an advanced learner and it's been evident in his time in kindergarten and 1st grade. Last spring (end of 1st grade) he scored a 221 on his MAP testing for Math and a 203 for Reading.

Just yesterday he came home telling me that he had completed his MAP testing for this fall testing period and he scored a 205 on his reading, but dropped dramatically on his math to a 202.

I'm not trying to freak out yet, but was curious as to whether or not this is common for children after summer break? My son is heavily involved in sports throughout the summer and we don't put any pressure on him academically through the summer months due to his demanding sports calendar for those months.

Should I be worried with that big of a drop? I'll be the first to admit that I know very little about how all of this works, but he told me the test was a lot harder this time around and that it covered things he has not yet been taught.

I am hoping to pull from the experiences of this board to give me some calm and soothing words or maybe even some advice as to how I might be able to work with my child to help bring his scores back up.


Also, I noticed that a lot of you all will say your child is falling in the 99th percentile. Where are you all getting this info? The only thing our reports tell us is the numerical score of the test.

There are lot of reasons for a drop. My son did drop a few in the fall sometimes but by the spring he soared again.

One time they had my son take the wrong test. Another time they had him finish the next day during recess time. Also another time they had him take a map test the same day they gave him a Test of Critical thinking and also on the same day he had to set up his Science fair project. All these things made my son mad and got him off his game on test day.

Do a little checking but don't drive your self crazy. That 221 is a great score, it probably didnt happen by chance.

My son had similar scores last spring at end of first: 235 math 201 reading. His reading went up this fall but math dropped to 225. I think the switch from primary MAP where all the questions are read to the kids to 2-5 MAP does make a difference. They are also looking at different things in the primary vs 2-5. We have PTC this week so hopefully we will have the score break down then.

For percentiles, I believe most schools are using the 2011 NWEA Norms (skip to page 78-79):



I agree with PP - the 221 is great and probably not a fluke.

My kids take something called Performance Series which is similar to MAP (I say MAP-like testing since no one knows what Performance Series is). The third grade teacher made an off-hand remark to me about scores dropping in the fall so I think that's normal. I would be more concerned if there was no rise or a drop from fall to winter (indicating they are not learning anything in school). On the Perfomance Series, at least, the test has some very random hard questions, and if the child gets them wrong it goes back to easier questions. When the are answering a certain number wrong, the test ends. This is very hard on DD (now in third) because she wants to get all the questions right but it's impossible on these types of tests. She said last year in second the test had long division with decimals and exponents. She would sit there and try to figure that stuff out. On the report we are given it lists national percentiles, not just the scores.

As some have noted, test administration conditions may make a difference in a child's performance.

Combined with teachers being evaluated based on efficacy of teaching as reflected by higher pupil test scores on the Winter standardized tests as compared with the back-to-school test scores, there may be some incentive to provide less-than-ideal test administration conditions for the back-to-school tests.

Combined with a movement some have rallied behind, to create year-round schooling... the test score data may subsequently be used as "evidence" of summer brain-drain in sufficient degree to call for year-round schooling.

As in chess, some may look ahead to consider the impact of possible next moves. What might be the effect of year-round schooling on gifted kids (and all kids) who languish in the classroom but flourish in other environments? How might year-round schooling impact opportunities for gifted kids (and all kids) to gather with like-minded kids at camps, classes, libraries, museums, and volunteer opportunities which may help them explore an interest or future career?

Parents concerned for a potential summer brain drain may wish to:
- take kids to the library regularly over summer break,
- play educational board games including scrabble, yahtzee, chess, checkers, hi-ho-cherry-o, game of LIFE, etc
- purchase any of the summer learning fun books created by many companies, often in a themed coloring book / work book format, and provide these for their kids to enjoy on a car ride, while waiting for friends, or any other moments when a kid might look for a good puzzle or challenge to accomplish. These are readily available at grocery stores, office supply stores, discount department stores, etc.

All these ideas and more, can help support and encourage each child to achieve at his/her challenge level. Possibly eclipsing that, undertaking these initiatives as a family role models a growth mindset, a positive can-do attitude, personal empowerment, and taking joy in responsibility for one's own education, rather than learned helpless and waiting on the system to set the pace.

A 19 point drop is a bit steep so I would probably investigate a bit and get more details from the school. In general, I would not be worried if the drop is only 5 to 10 points. If you notice, the standard error (+/-) is 6 to 8 points anyhow. It is possible, as you suspect, that his skills also could have gotten a bit rusty over the summer as well. However, with a drop of 19 points, there may be more at play here. Sometimes testing conditions may not be ideal, so perhaps your DS was not able to do his best that particular day.

Our school tests fall, winter and spring so you can really compare data over time. In your case, I would be less worried if the 221 was a huge jump from the other scores and more worried if the 221 fell within the pattern of scores. For example, my DD's math score last year dropped 5 points from fall to winter but then rose 12 points from winter to spring for a net RIT growth of 7 during the year.

MAP test takes about an hour to finish. It has about 40-50 questions. The questions go harder and harder. It depends on how a first grader takes on challenges and how he handles the failure and frustration positively. A couple of wrong turns might cost 10-20 points I guess. My DS told me that a 4th grade girl literaturally cried out loud in the middle of the MAP math test. As long as the trend over a couple of years of longer still show some nice improvement, you don't need to worry about the score flucturation in a single test.

Sorry! Late to the party! :-)

As a PP said, the 2-5 test is a different "style" of test than the one your son probably took last year as a 1st grader. We used to have 1st graders take the 2-5 test in the spring as a qualifier for our high ability program (they had already tested high on the 1st grade MAP that spring in order to get into the testing pool) and there was frequently a definite discrepancy between kids' scores on the 1st grade test and the 2-5 test (though they were taken just a couple of weeks apart).

I think it will be fine and you'll see some pretty dramatic "growth" this year for him on that test. If nothing else, his teacher is probably thrilled because he/she will end up looking like the genius when your son grows about 30 points this year. ;-)