Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment New to MAP testing

This is very interesting. I know that my son took the 6+ test at the beginning of last year in math and received a 240. He also received a 234 in reading but I don't know what level test he took. Then, even though I know he made quite a bit of progress in reading and math (he was homeschooled so I could see the actual progress; also his ITBS scores were through the roof on a test three grades up), his math score only went up by two points and the reading score went down by three points. I wonder if they gave him the 2-5 test by mistake. Is there any way to find out?

Hmmm... is there a link where I can read more about the fact that there are three grade-level group versions? This is not obvious from the RIT-to-percentile conversion charts. If my son's RIT was 253 for fall of 4th grade (presumably on the 2-5th gr test), should I ask for the next level MAP test when the school does its next round of testing in January?

You have to piece together a lot of different information, or just ask your school. NWEA is pretty guarded on releasing the information.

You can see from the parent toolkit that there is a MAP for Primary Grades (generally K-2, though some schools use K-1) which has a lot of the test reading questions to the student. You can also see from the toolkit that the test says students move up to about 260 in high school.

http://www.nwea.org/support/article/930

Then if you keep reading, you'll find snippets where they discuss MAP 6+ like in this article about the integrated math assessments: http://www.nwea.org/support/article/916

And if you keep digging and digging, you'll get to this "familiarization of tests" article- which seems to be the only place the actual existence of two tests is mentioned!
http://www.nwea.org/support/article/familiarization-tests

You can find plenty of unofficial NWEA information out there on the two levels- including things like this: http://www.fortheteachers.org/curriculum_ladders_math.htm

Thank you, CAMom! That helps!

Yup we are new to the testing world. My daughter who is also in 3rd grade is in the 99 % . The school suggested we do the NUMATS test. We registered her but cannot find any test preparation material.

If anyone has any suggestions I appreciate it.
Thanks

Hey Guys - was reading your posts regarding MAP testing. Excellent subject. I am a big fan of MAP testing for gifted due to its very high test ceiling. The RIT ceiling is around 320, which is approx. a grade 14.
The only difference between the Math 2-5 and the Math 6+ is the starting point for questions. But once the student answers the questions correctly, the test quickly adapts to their level and the ceiling for math 2-5 is quickly lifted.
If I could figure out how to make an attachment, I would show you my favorite quick table for showing the range of RIT levels per each grade level and the mean for each grade.
My favorite part is the Decartes continuum which trasnlates those RIT numbers into the objectives the student is ready to learn. I design Individual Academic Plans from those objectives in Decartes.
If you have any questions - or would like to talk about your childs particular numbers. This is what I do.
I am the only independent consulatant, licensed to use MAP from NWEA.
I would love to talk with anyone about MAP and how awesome an assessment it is for monitoring academic growth in gifted learners.

Feel free to email
mcesarano@highpotentialeducation.com

The NUMATS site says that there are practice materials on the Toolbox and also they will mail the materials to you when you sign up. http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/numats/registrantinfo/

Mcesarano-

If that's true that the only difference between Math 2-5 and Math 6+ is the starting point of the questions, then why does the Descartes report look completely different depending on the test, but with the same RIT score? This is my big puzzle and what has led me to the conclusion that the access to the questions is actually different. The goals, the titles on the Descartes reports and the "ready to learn next" is different, even with the same RIT score.

CAMom, that makes sense if they assume that in elementary school you are focusing on K-5 curriculum. I imagine most 4th grade teachers would be put out to be told their student had goals only in the middle school curriculum and would rather know about relative weaknesses in the material they are prepared to teach.

But LJoy- it's blank. As in "there is nothing more your child is ready to learn". Especially in the 240+ range...