Tamassee-Salem Elementary is one of 10 elementary schools in the Oconee County School District in South Carolina, and they have been using the MAP® Growth™ interim assessment for more than 10 years. The assessment provides critical information for teachers like Anna Durham to inform instruction and drive differentiation. Recently, Durham and her colleagues shared with us three ways they use MAP Suite data:
1. Make goals visible
Durham creates a simple graph of her third grader’s assessment scores with past and current scores charted alongside future goals. She believes that talking about goals – and how they will get there together – helps engage students in their own growth. And it’s paying off! One of her students gained 29 points on winter testing and, according to Durham, “just sat there and grinned when he and I were conferencing together.”
2. Know where to start
Second grade teacher, Allyson McCall appreciates that MAP Growth gives her the opportunity to know exactly where to teach her students at all levels of learning. According to McCall:
You would love to walk into a classroom and realize, ‘Everybody’s on the same page, and this is what I’m teaching today.’ That’s just not how it is. Even with only 16 students this year, I have about four different levels.
Oconee teachers find value in connecting their data to the next steps in instruction. Once they’ve referenced their reports and the assessment data, many head to the learning continuum within MAP Growth to target skills in specific RIT bands. Middle School teacher Alison Poore explains:
I started using the learning continuum to give me direction. I had a number, but it didn’t mean anything to me. I had to have something to break down the different standards and skills to know what I needed to focus my attention on.
3. Identify gaps
Some teachers are taking their MAP Growth scores and assessment data to the next level by connecting them to MAP® Skills™, the skills mastery tool that is part of the MAP Suite of assessments. MAP Skills helps teachers pinpoint exactly what those specific skills are that the student needs to work on—especially where gaps might exist in their learning. Math teacher Sara Wright notes:
The main benefit of MAP Skills is being able to fill in those gaps for kids
To see other ways that Oconee is leveraging MAP Growth, and to learn how administrators take advantage of professional development workshops in helping to shift the assessment mindset within the district, download the complete case study here.
