Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment MAP score, how reliable is it?

Hi all,

This is my first post in this forum. Google search led me here.

We have two boys, the older one just turned 7 and is enrolled in public schools in Maryland as a first grader. Here in Maryland, students take MAP test three times a year. His first test, which was conducted in the first week of school year, came out as a pleasant surprise to us. He scored 211 in reading, and 215 in math. Also included in the report was a projected increase in the scores at the end of the school year (both projections suggested slight increases to about 220). Well, long story short, his second test came back yesterday with literally the same scores (reading 211, and math 213). Given that all tests have uncertainties; this indicates that little progress was made.

He has complained about boredom at school. When asking him to describe a normal day, he said that a lot of times he just picks up a book from the shelf and reads by himself at the corner. As parents, we certainly hope that he could be challenged, yet we realize that his teacher has many students to attend to and care for. We�ve worried for a while that he may not be learning much at school. This recent MAP score in certain ways acts to confirm our concerns.

My question is: shall we take this MAP score literally and assume that he made no academic progress over half a school year? With private school not being an option, shall we start challenging him at home?

Thank you for your time and attention!!

Best,
Lucy

Welcome!

MAP test scores have been a rather regular topic of discussion on the forums, you might want to try the "Search" feature.

Definitely support your child at home by providing challenging material and opportunities in his areas of interest.

Libraries provide many hours of enjoyment and academic/intellectual stimulation while allowing a child ample choice and leeway in decision-making.

Many kids take part in extracurricular activities... from sports teams to music lessons, theater, dance, chess, science club, fencing, horse riding, swimming, world languages. This is the time for a child to explore many possibilities, as this helps him learn his own interests, strengths, weaknesses.

Before moving to purely outside school supplementation, you may want to have a discussion with the school about the tiny progress and potential need for challenge. Proceed with caution in your approach as individual teachers respond in dramatically different ways (from delight and willingness to work out a solution to hostility). There is a great deal of advice on this forum about ways to advocate.

In general, though, it's not appropriate for a child to be spending math class reading a book. Unless, maybe, it's one from the Life of Fred series. ;-)

Thank you! I'll admit that this forum is amazing. I spent much time over my lunch break reading threads, and will continue doing so over the weekend.

We have discussed about challenging him at home. The central issue is that he is already bored at school. We are worried that if he is further ahead of the curve, the boredom could be consequential. We've been trying to feed him books that interest him (biography and history are his favorites), but that is as far as we went. It ain't easy being a parent, is it?

We did try to move him away from academics out of school hours. He does year around swimming, and plays baseball and soccer. He also learns foreign language on Sunday, which, according to his one-time comment, is where he does the most learning. This comment, of course, made us rather sad.

Not in the US. But what is the ceiling of the test being given. The closer you are to the ceiling the less useful it is is as a progress indicator. Also check the school policy about working ahead of grade. He may be reading because he has reached the highest level they are allowed to teach in first grade.

The ceiling is a long ways off on MAPS test. MAPS test is all about national norming and measuring individual student growth. The effect of No Child Left Behind is that advance children are not progressing, I will not support that claim here as I trust you can google and find it.

It's likely that your child is taking the MAP-MPG version of the test and by scoring above 200 on both, would have more room beyond the lower grade test's ceiling by transitioning to the grades 2-5 test.

NWEA Recommendations for Transitioning Students from MPG to MAP 2 – 5

A helpful link from the archives:
NWEA - useful information?

There are ceilings on MAP ...

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1nA_PlvjvwFTi5vMwRxlfmmVUJo63pfwn67ZAMHaV4oU


MATH
Primary 110 ------------------------------> 240
MAP 2-5 160 -----------------------------> 260
MAP 6+ 160 --------------------------------------------------> 320
READING
Primary 110 ----------------------------> 220
MAP 2-5 150 -----------------------------> 250
MAP 6+ 160 ------------------------------------------------> 300

At 215 ish, a child's lack of growth is not due to a test ceiling. If the student isn't at projected RIT there was an instructional problem in the classroom.

Not necessarily .. remember its a test that gives a snapshot of a day. It could be a good day or a bad day for the child. Growth is actually measured spring to spring.