Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Reading NWEA MAP score dropped ... Help!

Arrg! My DS8 (3rd grade) just took the Winter MAPS Test today. His score is just one point higher than in the spring of 2nd. And three points LOWER than the beginning of the year. He started the pull-out gifted reading program this school year so I thought he was finally getting some challenge but his score went down! What the heck! I'm going to plan a meeting with his teachers but am not sure what to discuss. DS is afraid he will get kicked out of the program (which he says is still a little too easy but the gifted teacher disagrees).

HELP! What should I discuss? Any insight why his Reading MAP scores are stagnant (actually down 3 points from the last test) even after getting into gifted reading?

That the score is slightly lower is a non-issue. The standard error of measurement (SEM) on the MAP is about +/- 3 points, so you're talking about an insignificant change in scores. Stagnation is another question. That depends on what his original score was. If he was already essentially at the top of the norms, there wouldn't be much space for him to grow on this test. Also, going from grade 2 to 3, he may have switched over from the MPG (grade k-2) to the grade 2-5 version of the MAP, in which case the scores are not as comparable (in the upper extreme of the MPG).

IOW, it's difficult to interpret the significance or the meaning of these results without a bit more context.

I believe all scores were the grade 2-5 version of MAP. His reading MAP scores are good but not near the upper extreme. Low to mid 90s percentile nationally, mid 80s to 90 percentile locally (we're a high performing district).

His VCI on the WISC-V is in the 99%, his vocabulary is excellent - PPVT above 99%, he has a speech fluency disorder but I don't see how that would impact the MAP scores.

Any reason why scores would stagnate besides lack of challenge?

Personally, I haven't noticed any growth in reading in over a year but have thought that is because once they are "reading", growth becomes less obvious (compared to math).

Wouldn't worry about it.

Growth in reading after the point of decoding fluency is almost all in reading comprehension. There should be some headroom in the MAP 2-5 for at least a little growth in reading comprehension, but not as much for someone in the mid-90s %ile. The mean fall-to-winter reading growth for grade 3 was 7 points in the norm study, but less for already high-performing students.

To be fair, with regression to the mean, a child with 99%ile verbal cognition would be expected to have achievement in the low 90s, or even lower, so his achievement isn't discrepant. Stagnation continues to be the more important point.

As to his program, it may be that the exact form in which they expect reading comprehension to be demonstrated is not exactly that to which he is accustomed. I think we've discussed elsewhere on the forum the specific nature of Common Core reading comprehension tasks. Some of that may also be happening on the CC-aligned MAP testing.

Huckleberry - I wouldn't worry as much if the district didn't put so much weight on the MAP test scores for placement. They claim they look beyond just the MAP scores but in practice they don't.

Dreamsbig- Schools don't like to flex students in and out of the TAG programs because it makes their initial qualifier look illegitimate. Plus, the school understands these MAP scores take dips now and then (especially when schools test 3 times a year). Sounds like you might need to take a deep breath here and not place any additional stress upon yourself and/or your son.

Huckleberry - good points, thanks! I'm still concerned that his reading seems to have stagnated (from both test scores and my point of view) and will plan a meeting with his teacher to discuss.

My two girl, both in gifted programs, one in DYS, had scores drop in 15 of 58 sequential MAP tests, four times by over 7 points. And sequential -4, -5 changes once. But then +10, +7 on the next two. I wouldn't overly stress - but do discuss with the teacher. In our school, at least, it's not possible to be "kicked out" of the gifted program. Most important, I'd tell the little one not to worry about it. 8yo's don't need to be worrying about things like that.