Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Inflated MAP scores??

Excuse my jumping into this group like this but I am just a little shocked at my daughter's preliminary MAP scores.

She just turned 6 and would be in Kindergarten. We are homeschooling but are involved with a local Parent Partnership Program which means she is a student of a local school district but I oversee her daily education with the supervision of a coordinator.

Anyway, as a requirement for participating in this program my daughter has to take a yearly MAP test.

Her scores came back really high. Which is so strange to me. We've always known she was bright but these seem super inflated. I sat next to her as she took most of the test (we were able to take it from our home via the computer) and she was so frustrated with this test. The questions became very hard (which I understand why they are doing this) but it really frustrated her and then she would even miss answers to questions she could have gotten right but she assumed she didn't know the material anymore. Some of the answers she got right by lucky guesses. She would be really mad that she didn't know how to answer the questions so I would encourage her to make her "best guess" and she'd randomly choose one.

We've all ready been covering 1st grade material at home but backed off recently due to a chronic illness she is experiencing and because I think emotionally she is not prepared for this much academics even though she is perfectly capable of doing the material. She started to really dislike school and that is the last thing I want.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. Here are her preliminary scores that we received after taking her test. We're still waiting on the report.

Her two reading scores: 209 and 186

Her two math scores: 193 an 190

What do the lexile scores under reading mean? How do I interpret these scores? Her teacher shot us a quick email to tell us she was in the 99th percentile and he'd have more info after the formal report.

What grade equivalent would this put her at?

It's just hard for me to trust these scores. I've always known she was bright, it was a lot more obvious when she was a toddler/preschooler but I guess I've never thought of her in the 99th percentile.

Im not sure what the two scores are unless they are the range (which seems like a big range btw as my daughters ranges are only 6 points) Looks like her reading would be about 3rd grade and her math second grade. What was her lexile range? If you go to www.lexile.com you can find books that are appropriate for her reading level.

http://www.belleplaine.k12.mn.us/se...3&myButton=g5plugin&db=g133_b545 is a good website that might give you an idea of where she is at reading and math. There are some good games for the kids here.

hth
Sheila

Here I will put all the scores here. There were four sections of the test. A reading section followed by a math section followed by another reading section and a final math section.

Here are all the scores:

Reading Score: 209
Lexile: 656-806
Phonological Awareness 186-207
Phonics: 203-225
Concepts of Print: 200-228


Mathematics Score: 193
Problem Solving: 193-207
Number Sense: 187-202
Computation: 176-191


Reading Score: 186
Lexile: 257-407
Vocab & Word Structure: 176-191
Comprehension: 173-190
Writing: 187-203



Mathematics Score: 190
Measurement & Geometry: 181-196
Statistics & Probability: 182-197
Algebra: 186-200



For what it is worth, she is only a beginning reader and not a precocious one either. We just started this year and have actually backed off from further instruction for a few months. I mean, she is still doing bob books. That type of reading.

Did she do P-MAP or MAP? You can ask her if you weren't there, if the computer read the questions to her or if she had to read them herself. P-MAP is primarily for K and 1st graders and the computer reads the question to them. Since it gave her a very high lexile score, I'm not exactly sure what test she took.

I haven't seen a MAP score come back that high for a beginning reader. That lexile score is closer to what most would consider 4th or 5th grade reading. For example, Charlotte's Web is lexile 680 so that would be kind of in the middle of that range.

The second reading score looks a little more likely based on your description. Why did she take the test twice?

She took the MAP test that is designed for K-2 grade so they have an additional audio file that is downloaded to your computer. Some of the questions were read and some were not. A lot of the time you could use visual clues to figure out the answer. On ones where there was absolutely no audio and the reading was too difficult she would take a blind guess.

I was not aware that she took the test twice. I just figured they split up the reading and math into two sections to break it up and give them a break.

I will be really irritated if we took it twice. My daughter was hating that test by the time we got to the 3rd and 4th round which is why I wound up sitting next to her prodding her to keep going. She didn't want to do it anymore. 2 hours is a lot of test taking for a 6 year old. Her 2nd two scores are probably more accurate but they also reflect a little girl that didn't want to do it anymore and had to be forced to answer the questions, to sit up, to pay attention, etc. She was just plain done after the first two rounds.

Meant to add that since we were taking the test from home there was someone that was logged into our computer that would clear us when to take the next section. So, we'd complete a section. Wait for approval and then a button would come up for us to continue. We would take a 15 minute to 30 minute break in between the sections to go potty, eat and just wiggle. So, if she took it twice than the person who was proctoring her test made her take it twice. I will have to ask about that.

You add up the two original scores you got and then take the average to get your true score. So her reading is a 197 and her math 191. Her math is a end of second and reading begining third from what I see. I have had a lot of help from others on here with my own dd's scores.

That's what I was wondering. Does that reading score reflect what she understands? That I agree with. She has always been very verbal and I read aloud to her books way beyond her reading level and she understands them just fine. Lots of audio books too. However, she is not much of an independent reader yet. She can do it but she doesn't do it for fun yet.

She didn't take them twice. Those are just the subsections for the K version of the test. My dd took the same test a few months ago and has the same break down. Most schools just give that final combined score, so I think that is what is confusing when you get the full break down.

Gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up!