For the average freshman, the NWEA MAP test is standard, but it isn’t the all-revealing test that VBCPS hoped it would be.
Growth assessments are usually administered in the beginning, middle and end of a course. The MAP can take one block, or in some cases, three. In a 4X4 class, this can be extremely detrimental to the course. Due to limited time in these classes, teachers already struggle with missed school and external factors that eat into 4X4 time, so a test that takes so long shouldn’t be administered in these classes.
Some, like literacy teacher Christina Frierman, believe that the test can be incredibly useful for both students who cannot read at grade level and the majority of the ninth-grade population compared to the previously used Scholastic Reading Index.
“The SRI did not provide us with detailed information as far as where the areas of deficit were,” Frierman said.
It has been known for a long time that standardized testing can be inaccurate, and for some people, even unfair.
Such testing can cause test anxiety, leading to worse scores on paper, according to the National Education Association. And of course, a test like the MAP is just a snapshot of a student’s skills, which does not account for the daily ups and downs of a student’s life, or the environment, both of which can affect the test taker and their score.
All of these arguments could be disregarded if the results of the test were useful at all to lesson planning or towards giving students an individualized education, but the results are remarkably unhelpful, showing the vaguely explained RIT (Rasch Unit Scale) score.
The score is said to be an accurate achievement scale that isn’t grade-dependent, which might be the only thing going for it, considering the previously used Lexile score depended heavily on the grade level. Other than that, it seems near-arbitrary in its usage, being little-explained and unclear in its value.
In addition, ninth graders are the only high school students who take it, making it near-useless in the years following. Although progress is tracked from elementary school to freshman year, there is little to no use for it in high school if students have taken it for that many years.
Overall, the test doesn’t keep students and teachers in mind. In fact, it seems that it takes away from valuable learning time without giving much benefit to those who have to take it.
It is imperative that those in power question the necessity of the MAP, and realize that the key to success does not lie in a fifty-question test.
