I met with my middle school's principal to discuss some matters, one of which was my concern over our district's lack of attention to, and data collection on, the growth of the gifted population. She told me one of the reasons is that the gifted population is one of the hardest groups to grow. In fact, not only do they not tend to show a lot of growth, but sometimes they even go down.
Our district is in its second year using MAP. This year, they decided to test everyone at the beginning of the year, and anyone who tested above grade level does not test again that year. The reason is that those kids have already shown mastery of the grade level so why test them? (or teach them?)
Seems they believe that the test shows grade level mastery and nuthin else?