Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment MAPS testing mess up

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.