Is it unusual for a child to have flat scores in MAP testing from spring to spring? This year DD was in a math class that is two years accelerated, and her score stayed flat for three of the last four testing cycles (one test it dropped which I suspect was due to her being sick on the testing day). I know she has learned something, but her MAP scores don't reflect it.

Could it be a ceiling effect? Is she near a test transition point (test levels are K-1, 2-5, 6+) or not near, but with a very high score?

Not really, if she was close to the ceiling of the test to begin with. Or if she switched from one level of MAP to another (the levels are MPG, 2-5, and 6+).

Last year in spring of 5th grade, it was 251 (97%). This fall in 6th grade it was 251, but now says it is 99%. Why would the percentile range change if the same RIT? If there is a test for 2-5 and 6+, then I'm assuming last spring it would have been a different test than this year.

NWEA was renormed in 2015, but last year most schools were using the 2011 norms. It could be a difference between the norms. But yes, she would have taken a new test this year and a 251 on 6+ is actually "higher" than a 251 on the 2-5 (no, this isn't what NWEA will tell you, but from our own experience, the next level test can have much harder questions, making the two versions a bit difficult to compare). Once a student is scoring in the range your daughter was on the 2-5 test, they should be bumped up to the next level test. This would appear to be what NWEA recommends in order to avoid flat or negative growth.

Actually, though, I would view that score as growth, since it is on the higher level test (she probably had to answer harder questions on the next level test).

My son had lower scores in the spring of his 4th grade year than he did the previous fall. Since I had been homeschooling him, I knew that he had had tremendous academic growth during that time. I found out later that he had taken the 6+ level test in the fall and the 2-5 test in the spring (I don't have that reversed. The proctor in the fall understood that he needed a higher level test, and the proctor in the spring did not.). Perhaps the 2-5 test has a lower ceiling?

Thanks for all the great info. This is very helpful! What is the ceiling for the test? Is it the same for all the versions?

2-5 does have a lower ceiling, in the sense that there are very few items in the upper RIT ranges. So one careless error can drop the scaled score by quite a bit. Or one chance correct response can inflate the scaled score. NWEA recommends that a math score of 231+ on the 2-5 version should trigger a re-test on the 6+ level, remaining there for progress monitoring moving forward.

Interesting! My son's math score on both tests was well above 231.

You might appreciate this other discussion thread, too. I had some questions about MAP with respect to math placement decisions and had some good insight. There are a few other helpful links in that thread.

Re: Which math class

Thanks!