As MAP® Growth™ reports get sent home and parent-teacher conference season approaches, teachers and parents alike might be looking for information to share about MAP Growth. Terms like “adaptive” and “norms” – while known to educators – can be foreign to parents. Here are eight things for parents to know about MAP Growth – and a short video that teachers can share with them.
First, what is MAP Growth? Unlike the paper-and-pencil tests of days gone by, where all students were asked the same questions and spent a fixed amount of time taking the test, MAP Growth is a computer adaptive test—which means every student gets a unique set of test questions based on their responses to previous questions. The purpose of MAP Growth is to determine what the student knows and is ready to learn next.
MAP Growth tracks student growth over time – wherever they are starting from and regardless of the grade they are in. For instance, if a third grader is actually reading like a fifth grader, MAP Growth will be able to identify that. Or, if a fifth grader is doing math like a third grader, MAP Growth will identify that, too. Both things are incredibly important for teachers to know so that they can plan instruction efficiently.
Did you know?
- Most schools administer MAP Growth three times per year – in fall, winter, and spring.
- As the student answers correctly, questions get harder. If the student answers incorrectly, the questions get easier. By the end of the test, students will have answered enough questions to inform a teacher about what they know and what they’re ready to learn.
MAP Growth is grade independent, which means teachers and parents can see where a child is performing relative to grade level – not merely if they are at grade level or not.- MAP Growth assesses math, reading, language usage, and science.
- MAP Growth takes less than an hour to complete – but is not timed. Students can take as much time as needed.
- The score your child receives is called a RIT score. You’ll be able to see your child’s RIT score progress from test to test, and year to year.
- The RIT score can be connected to online resources, such as Khan Academy for math exercises and YourReadingPath.com to determine what books might be at the appropriate reading level. You can even plug their RIT score into our College Explorer tool to see what colleges your child is on track to attend.
Check out the video below for a basic explanation of MAP Growth, or review the following valuable resources to better understand MAP Growth.
