Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment NWEA MAP Primary or MPG

According to this transition guide for 2-5 versus 6+, the cut score for moving up is a score of 231 or higher in math:

https://www.nwea.org/content/upload...ath-6-plus-Transition-Guidance-MAY15.pdf

Still searching for the transition guide for reading.

I do not know about the ceiling or which test to take, but can weigh in on the questions...it is a CAT (computer adaptive test) much like the gmat. It is extremely important to get the first few questions right so that you can get to the harder questions at the end. With every question you get correct, you get a harder question.

The way I think about it is that the first questions determine the general range of score and the last questions determine the exact score within that range. I always coached dd to take all the time she needed at the beginning and that she knows she did well if she got to really hard questions at the end.

As always, interesting, aeh! So how is a parent to look at data on the 2-5 version of the test, when the child has been well above 231 for multiple test sessions (and will be for quite a few future sessions)? I wish this data could be easily ignored, but our schools rely heavily upon it for placement.

(Scratching head)...

blackcat, does your school usually use the Survey version? I'd want to see how my child did on the Survey plus Goals before moving to the 6+ version. Yes, though, I'd have similar questions. Our kooky schools would keep on giving him the 2-5 version until 6th grade (3x a year!), no matter what his score on the Survey Plus Goals...

So I found another handbook, which indicates that the Survey version is 20 items TOTAL, while the plus Goals version is 30-50 items PER AREA, which includes multiple reading/language and mathematics areas:

http://legacysupport.nwea.org/sites/www.nwea.org/files/resources/Teacher_Handbook.pdf

See page 3. Caveat: this may be an older version, not the new CC version.

I don't think they could have been given the survey version then, because the report breaks math down into four areas (and just says "high", it doesn't give a percentile or score or anything), for instance "Number & Operation", "Algebra", "Geometry & Measurement", and "Data Analysis".
Reading is broken down into "literature", "informational text", and "vocabulary".

Honestly, our schools use the longer tests, so I am not what the Survey results would look like. Perhaps someone else here might, though.

blackcat, it wouldn't hurt to ask your DS's school to give him the 6+ test. The worst they would do is say, "no."

All of this information has made me question the usefulness of the data when the test maker would have recommended a test level switch.