Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment School Says MAP Test "Lost" and Needs A Repeat

DD had almost finished her NWEA test for this fall. She said her teacher had problems connecting and had to restart her test (in the last afternoon again) losing all her previous work.

Anyone know the technical side of MAP? I thought it's impossible to lose a test. Isn't a backup kept on the server so kids can always resume? I thought tests can't even really be deleted because a backup is still kept on the server.

DD10 was supposed to take the MAP math yesterday and could not due to technical difficulties. This has happened to my DD16 with a different computerized test - fortunately it was a "practice", but twice the test kicked her out and she had to start all over again.

The test would need to save after each question, and I don't know if it does that, or if the school can set things so that it saves after each question.

Oh well, not as bad as the guy I knew who took his PE (that's professional engineer, not physical education) exam. Thought he did really well then was notified that the tests were being stored in a building prior to grading, and the building burned down. That's an eight hour test, and he had to study again and take it six months later.

Not MAP but our computerized test sounds very similar. DS's teacher had him do it last year and while he was doing it two specialists came to pull him for services. The test was invalid because it timed out too long and he had to start all over again. By that time he was probably sick of it and I wonder what his score would have been otherwise.

This happened to my dd this time last year, she would have technical problems and would get booted out and her progress would be lost. She'd have to start all over. We ended up getting a result that wasn't all that bad but I wonder if she could have done better without all the technical issues.

Sorry, shifrbv - that sounds frustrating! We've heard of similar stories involving technical glitches in our area, but have not experienced them.

DS6 took his first MAP tests recently...and although we knew he might take them "soon," we were surprised to find out that he'd already taken them! When we know our DC is headed into a test we are usually more cautious than normal about an early bedtime, good breakfast, etc...and we were caught by surprise. We still don't have results, but we are hoping he was able to do his best (and that the results are not at odds with his recent WIAT test), because the school seems to really base many of their decisions about where to teach them based on this test (and so many things can go wrong).

From NWEA troubleshooting site, it says unless the proctor specifically chooses to terminate a MAP test, a crashed system or disconnect will place the test in a resumable state. This matches with common sense.

My ds11 has had to re-take the test several times over the years. One time he had to take it over because they started him on the wrong test, so he says.

DS took reading yesterday and of course, no one told us that was going to occur. I asked DS what he did in school and he said he took the reading test and the score that popped up started with the numbers 22. I said "are you sure, that doesn't sound right." I went back and looked at his spring score which was about 500 points higher. If his score actually started with 22, that would be in maybe the 50th-75th percentile and I KNOW that he is not that low. Since the district insists on making this a high-stakes test, and goes back and looks at kids' second grade scores when deciding how to place them in 4th grade, and they want them to be above the 98th percentile, this was upsetting. I emailed the teacher and asked, and she said, actually no, he scored almost 2800 and was in the top percentile. Whew. Now to get through math...more worried about DS than DD although they are using DD's numbers for placement as well, apparently. But at least she's not going to get kicked out at this point.

This may be something to look into, as it could indicate the child was essentially hitting a ceiling. Some top students have experienced computer adaptive test sessions running more than 3 times the estimate given. This was not due to slow student response or technical difficulty, but rather to an inordinately large pool of questions being presented. Subsequently these test data were dropped from the local norms because they skewed all other student results much lower.

I would not say he is hitting the ceiling but could not be sure. He did get a 269 in the spring of 3rd grade on the math section and took 2 days (math period) to finish that test. He is now in 6th and they are going to try to put a time limit on him of which I am not in favor of. The test really does not matter to us personally any more. I am not sure how it bothers my son. We will see tonight. It drives his teachers crazy.