Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion MAP RIT growth

Hi,
I am working on an action research paper about meeting the needs of high ability readers and am looking to find data that shows amount of RIT growth in children who score in the 99th %ile in their grade. Any suggestions? Any other ideas about ways to show the leveling off b/c high ability students are not being challenged in reading?

I think you would be more likely to see an obvious leveling off by looking at math growth.

Also, a lack of reading growth might be due to a lack of interest in higher level materials for a few years. For example, a 6 year old who is reading at a middle school level might stay there for several years simply because the most interesting books to them are written at the 4th-6th grade level. In fact, as far as I have been able to tell, *most* modern children's books are written at this level.

Of course, more challenging materials could be introduced in the form of classic children's literature, which generally seems to be written at a higher level for the same target audience.

Just stuff I've thought about over the years. Of course, I didn't answer your question and you probably already knew all of this anyway. Good luck with your research!

Have you checked out the NAEP data? I'm not sure that it covers this, but it may, since it's focused on increasing scores.

You may also want to address the idea of "expected growth" for these kids. A child who starts 3rd grade reading at a 6th grade level should have a greater than 1 year increase over the course of a school year.

Maryann

I have MAP data for my son for one year- three testing times. If you want it, I would be happy to share. Just PM me. Not sure how helpful it'll be but if it is useful in the long run to get better growth goals, I'll share!

Thanks for your prompt ideas! It is a good thing for me to think about other reasons for leveling off.

I am particularly interested in reading, so that has been the course of action I've been folowing partially b/c I feel so strongly against the strict adhearance to the basal that our district supports. I'd like to collect enough research to release my gifted child from "fidelity" to the basal. At this point they must read it (1-3 times), and do "skill" sheets, and take the tests, and then they can do some more work like read novels.
Pardon me...I just noticed I'm ranting.

I intuitively know that real books best meet the needs of high ability and gifted readers, I just need more data.

That is funny that you mentioned your son's scores. Reading some of your posts is what made me start thinking about the possibilities of using MAP scores to prove my point. How's it going with his progress?

Yes I'd love to have the scores!

I have been reading the NWEA site. There is a Growth Projection Calculator that projects how much a student w/b projected to grow over time as compared to other students in his/her grade that started with the same RIT. I really like the MAPs. I've heard positive and negative feedback about the tests. Do you have experience with it?

Just want to chime in that I completely agree with Kai. My DD10 tested at an 8th grade+ level in 2nd grade. There were very few books that seemed appropriate content-wise that were at her level. She is imaginational and emotional OE so I limited what she got her hands on. The first Harry Potter gave her nightmares for a week when she was in 1st/2nd grade (can't recall exactly). What she reads right now is pretty standard 4th-6th grade reading. She just reads a lot of it very quickly.

Thanks for your chime.:)
What grade is she now?