MAP Growth: Measuring Student Success at AIS
Introduction
Austin International School uses the Northwest Education Association's (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth assessment to track individual student growth during their time at AIS. Students in Kndergarten and up complete assessments three times per year, after which student growth data is shared with teachers and families. MAP Growth data points are important in identifying areas of strength and areas of focus for each student. As such, MAP forms an important part of the work that we do to support individualized student learning at AIS.
Taking the MAP at AIS
It is important to understand that MAP Growth is not a standardized state test. MAP Growth is an interactive, computer-adaptive assessment and it is untimed. The first question presented to each student will start out at the norm level for that grade level. If the student gets the question right, the next question is harder; if the student ges the question wrong, the next question is easier. By progressively moving along this path, MAP Growth is able to establish a student's RIT score, which is, in turn, used to provide deep insight into his or her learning. For more information about the test itself, we invite you to consult the MAP Growth Parent's Guide (also available in other AIS community languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hatian Creole, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese).
Students, working at their level, provide important insight into how to best help them grow in four key academic areas: reading, mathematics, language usage, and general science. MAP data is tracked throughout his or her time at AIS. In this way, we are able to follow not only a student's growth during a single academic year, but throughout their time in our school.
We invite you to explore the MAP Growth assessments by visiting the MAP Student Resource site or even going through a MAP practice test yourself. The username and password for the practice test are both "grow".
To see what it's like to take the MAP test in 3rd grade (CE2), watch Lyla's and Michael's stories below.
Reading MAP Results
Because MAP Growth assessments are different from other types of assessments that take place in schools, we require all families to have at least one parent or guardian attend a MAP Family Workshop in order to receive results. Once a parent or guardian has attended a workshop, results of the MAP Growth assessments will be shared with families after the close of each testing session (i.e., fall, winter, and spring). These results provide a wonderful basis for a dialogue between you, your child, and your child's teachers. To learn more about reading the reports that are issued three times per year, please consult the sample MAP Family Report.