We've just had our parent teacher conference and received our child's NWEA Map testing data.

I'm not sure I am interpreting it correctly, and if I am I'd like some guidance on how to proceed. Our kindergarten child (approximately 5 years and 10 months at the time of testing) was tested in the winter testing period.

Her Math was 206-209-212 (percentile 99-99-99).
Her Reading was 193-196-199 (percentile 99-99-99).

From looking at the 2011 NWEA Normative Data (available here: http://legacysupport.nwea.org/sites...202011%20Norms%20Report_01.17.2012_2.pdf , page 30 and 32, Tables 5.1 and 5.3 ) I observe that the mean scores for kindergarten (winter testing period) for reading is a 151.0 with a standard deviation of 10.91. For math the mean scores for kindergarten (winter testing period) is 150.7 with a standard deviation of 12.45.

If I am interpreting this correctly, this would indicate that the reading scores are 3.85-4.4 standard deviations above the mean (based on RIT +- Std Err) for reading, making the performance in the 1/10,000 to 1/100,000 range.

The math score 206-209-212 is 4.4 to 4.9 standard deviations above the mean (based on RIT +- Std Err) for math putting the score in the 1/100,000 to 1/1,000,000 range.

She is clearly very "smart". She's extremely articulate and has a huge vocabulary, seems to read and write well for a kindergardener. She loves playing Dreambox and she has worked through all of the K, 1st, 2nd and started 3rd grade math in Dreambox in a little over 43 hours of play. She doesn't hate school, but does complain she's bored. There is a GATE program in the district, but nothing that starts until after grade 2 testing...

Thoughts?

Thanks so much,
A concerned dad.

Your daughter is clearly doing very well with her academic skills! 99th %ile is excellent, no matter how you slice it.

I would caution, though, that it is doubtful that the norm group is deep enough to interpret at the +4 SD level, especially on a test where only somewhere between 20 and 50ish items are administered, even if it is an adaptive test.

If you want a more accurate assessment of her cognition and academic skills, you might want to investigate comprehensive assessment through a qualified examiner, with a reliable individually-administered cognitive instrument, such as the WPPSI-IV, SBV, or DAS-II, and achievement instrument, such as the KTEA-3, WJIV, or WIAT-III. Just make sure whatever you have done won't interfere with the validity of the future GATE testing (2 year minimum time to re-test on cognitive ability tests).

It is a 54 question adaptive test.

There were 79,137 (2009) and 126,765 (2010) students in Test Events Pool for Mathematics

There were 78,230 (2009) and 127,894 (2010) students in Test Events Pool for Reading.

Nonetheless I take your point.



Thank you that's insightful, I had not considered that issue.