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MAP Testing at
Greenville City Schools
By Jeff Cassell
Principal, Woodland Primary
Greenville City Schools
At Greenville City Schools, we are passionate about student
growth. Student growth is about learning and the students
acquiring the concepts and skills they need to flourish in the world
over a period of time. Measuring student growth is crucial, and
as educators we need a measurement scale over time to accurately
indicate this growth. One of our measurements is called the MAP
or MPG. What is MAP or MPG? MAP is an acronym for Measure
of Academic Progress and MPG is an acronym for MAP for Primary
Grades. Both MAP and MPG are designed by NWEA, an organization
that originated in Portland Oregon over forty years ago. Woodland
Primary School uses the MPG, the other 3-8 grade schools use MAP.
MAP/MPG scores provide educators with normed data. Normed data is
data about typical level of performance for any given group of students
based on characteristics such as age range, grade level, or
geographical area. These norms help educators see if a student is
growing at an expected pace, regardless of where the student
started. It measures growth over time and not just what a student
knows at one moment in time. MAP/MPG tests are given three times
a year and our students are compared to all the students taking the
test from many states and areas. Students take the test during
September, December, and April or May.
The three testing windows provide teachers with information about where
a student is starting and progressing. In addition, it provides
differentiated instructional information to help all students
learn. Principals use the information to understand how each
class is performing and to track the school as a whole towards
established benchmarks. District administrators want to see
overall trends and make sure the district is on track to meet
accountability requirements. No single assessment can meet all of
these purposes.
Using multiple measures allows educators to cross-check their data and
answer different educational questions with the appropriate
tools. This is why the formative and interim assessments have a
critical role to play in providing the information educators need to
close achievement gaps. To understand where all students are on
their learning path, an adaptive assessment can be used. MAP/MPG
is a computer adaptive skill assessment. A computer adaptive
skill assessment is a test on a computer where the next question is
determine by the outcome of the previous question. If a student
misses a question, the next question is easier on the continuum of
questions. If the next question is answered correctly, then the
next question is more difficult. This assessment continuum is a
K-12 continuum. This allows the teachers to track the progress of
students each year. We are comparing apples to apples, unlike our
OAAs our students have been taking for years dictated by the state with
a different assessment continuum.
Woodland Primary School uses the MPG data to chart the progress of
students in reading and math and set goals for student growth.
Teachers use this information to group students in small groups;
provide individual instruction for students, and to evaluate the
students’ progress during the year. MPG data will be used for
future learning as well. This information will be used for
placement in response to intervention (RTI) programs and using
technology in a one-to-one system where each student has their own
device, IPad, and they will be given web apps based on their MPG
scores. Each student will have their own tailored set of practice
problems, videos, personal quests, performance assessments, and develop
their own re-teaching video as an authentic assessment based on the
individual academic level. As you can see, MAP or MPG data is
critical to the present and future of our students.
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