Dd7 was to take her MAPS testing today but her and another student had computer problems and she says they'll have to do their testing tomorrow too. She said that the computer/program kept shutting off.

I want dd to have an equal opportunity as the rest of her class to do her best (she's not the best test taker) and I wonder how much this snafu will affect her results. I'm not sure if she's going to have to start completely over or what.... And since the rest of the class is done and will be doing something else I wouldn't be surprised if she rushes through it now to hurry up and finish and join the rest of the class.

It's a single data point - try not to stress about it too much!

Here we have Performance Series which is similar to MAPS and the kids have to score in the 98th-99th percentile in both math AND reading in order to have a decent shot of getting into the GATE school (sometime within the last year of application). So I understand your frustration--depending on the school, it can be an important test. My dd (also 7) is taking math today and I found myself compulsively asking her math questions this morning to see if she remembers certain math concepts. I told her to make sure she actually eats her lunch today rather than throwing it out, told her to double check her answers before submitting, etc. Last year at this time she was on meds that didn't work for her ADHD and turned her into a lethargic zombie at school. The teacher called me alarmed the very day that she took the reading test, saying that DD was staring into space, arranging her crayons into a pyramid, and not doing any work at all. Yet that score, which was clearly given to her on probably her worst day of the entire year, is now part of her record. Frustrating.

Well, the good thing is she's already in G&T so we don't have to worry about that.

I'm guessing they use the MAPS results to determine her level of instruction in subjects. I really don't know. I just feel that when I get the results I'm going to wonder if they are a true representation of her. I'm a worrier, I know.

Most schools seem to be using MAPs to track knowledge gain during the school year.

The good thing though, no matter what she scores on this MAP test - is that it's not the only data point you have on your dd. You'll have the work she's done in school all year, classroom tests if they give them, etc. So if for some reason she gets placed lower than you think she needs to be and it's due to this particular MAPS score being low - you can advocate past it. You will know there was a reason that perhaps the score won't be representative of what she knows. You'll have her classwork etc. You can request additional testing if there is still a concern. This test is just one data point in a world full of data points

I hope she won't be affected though and you won't have to worry about any of that!

Best wishes,

polarbear

I can understand your concern, but you can probably relax a bit since she is already in G&T. In our area, the MAP becomes "high stakes" for some kids because too low of a score can actually exclude them from the screening pool for G&T (they need to meet 3 of 4 criteria just to make the pool, with 2 of the criteria being MAP subtests). If I were you, I'd be curious to know what exactly the school uses the MAP scores for.

We had a similar computer issue happen with my DD today, which will result in her having to finish her MAP test tomorrow. I, like you, mountainmom2011, am concerned about how this will affect my DD's results. Unfortunately, for my DD, this is her first experience with MAP (our previous district didn't use MAP testing). And, for her, there is a potential problem - she is currently subject accelerated in math and the math teacher is threatening to move her out of the class, undoing her acceleration, if she doesn't score high enough on the MAP.

Good luck!

This might be a little related- my son's hearing aid broke and had to go to the repair shop in another state for 2 weeks, which of course happened during our yearly state testing. The teacher assured me he could hear the written directions well. His IEP says he can take tests separately, in a quiet room, but no one did that for him. Luckily he did well anyway!

I posted above about DD needing to take math. Apparently she was one of a few who didn't finish the test so the teacher told them they could finish it the next day. Next day she and the other few took it while the rest of the kids went to music. Of course no one wants to sit around and take a test when they could be at music. I think DD stuck around and did her best and was the very last to finish (she said some kids rushed through it) but it just goes to show these tests are not necessarily an accurate representation of their abilities. How dumb of them to make kids test when the rest are doing something fun. I also don't think they give any feedback to the kids on how they did, so there is no motivation for them to do well, either. Yet, they base important decisions, like who gets to be in the gifted program, based almost exclusively on these tests (like i said they have to be in the 98th-99th percentile). I hate our district. Probably won't find out how DD did anytime soon either--if they even bother to give the scores to parents it's usually weeks later.

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.