Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment can school administer MAP test without consent?

DS7 is partially homeschooled. He does all academics at home. Apparently, he took the MAP test and I was never notified. (No parents were notified.) Is a school allowed to do this?

We have a test similar to MAP and parents don't have a choice about it. We're lucky if they even give us the dates of testing.

I think of MAP as an in-process sort of tool like quizzes or subject tests rather than something more diagnostic or one shot such as an IQ test. I can see the fuzzy zone for you when they've waved their responsibility to appropriately educate your kid in academic subjects; why would they test his academics?

If he's enrolled, yes. It's considered progress monitoring, and thus part of the general curriculum, which doesn't require parental notification or specific permission. (With the exception of reproductive education, in some states.) Your son is in a bit of a grey area, as he receives academics at home, but since he is in school part of the time, and normally does whatever everyone else does during the time he is there, the testing probably fell under that category.

Also, as long as his official enrollment is in this school, they are responsible to the state for his accountability scores, which the MAP is likely a part of. In general, district-wide and state-mandated testing is an opt-out, not an opt-in.

Portia, MAP is usually for all students, more aimed at identifying at-risk/low-performing students, but incidentally helpful for identifying some high-performing students (up to a point). Special ed eligibility testing requires specific informed consent.

MAP stands for Measure of Academic Process, so to me it is just a way for schools to see who is making progress, how much progress is being made, and who might not be making as much progress as they should be. Our school district doesn't get permission from parents to use this testing instrument, but they do put the dates on the school calendar so parents know when they are testing. We also don't get the results of the testing unless we ask for it because our school just uses the results for AR placement and to catch any students that are struggling. I don't know of any students that have been accelerated because of their MAP scores.

I know a lot of parents on this forum put a lot into MAP testing, but I don't view it the same way - especially the reading test. Sure it is a great way to help our DC prove they should be able to check out higher level books at the library, but after a child has sat through this test a few times it is very easy for them to stop trying so hard. The test basically keeps going and gets harder as the student answers the questions until they miss so many at a certain level then they are done. These kids are smart (well duh!) and they figure out that if they just buzz through this test they can be done and then do something more fun (like read or get on a computer game) while the other students finish their test.

For my DD - once she has proven she can do something she has a hard time repeatedly proving it just because the teacher wants her to and that is the case with the MAP test. It was fun when she took it at the end of 1st grade to prove to the school she was advanced (she scored at about a 4th grade level if I recall correctly), but what did she get out of trying hard and proving herself - not much and more of the same! Now she has taken the same test several times each year since then and she just doesn't see the point. She is still scoring at least 2 grade levels above and the school library will let her check out any book she likes - big whoop-ti-do! I'm sure if I told her something would be different/better for her if she could score really well, then she would try, but for us it makes no difference if she scores at or above level.

I agree that when kids get older specifically a gifted child the test doesn't show much. I don't understand the big deal of knowing when it is. It's not like you need to study for it. Typically testing like MAP isn't really for the gifted it is for the rest of the school to make schools more accountable in what those kids are learning. My daughter is in a magnet class where other kids scores are comparable so I have to disagree somewhat with the previous poster because there is a certain competition between them. They do care about what their scores are even though in reality it doesn't mean anything. In regards to reading my daughter is in 6th grade elementary and there hasn't been many books for her to read there in a while.

I don't think MAP would require consent. As long as they give it to everyone, and they aren't singling out one kid, I don't think that consent is required. If he isn't doing academics at school, then even if the school uses MAP scores for placement, it won't matter for your son. I wouldn't worry about it.

They do use MAP for some placements in our district - my 4th grader just took the MAP Math for 5th grade placement. The most advanced placement is for kids with 96th+ percentile scores.

I was more concerned that they are administering a rather lengthy test and gathering data from children without even informing the parents. They tell me when a magician is coming to school for a 30 mins show but they don't tell me when they are testing children. Seems odd to me.