You’ve tested with MAP® Growth™ (or will soon). Now what?
I sat down with Robin Whitacre, former manager of the Professional Learning Design team at NWEA, to learn more about how to put assessment data to good use. Her answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Many teachers begin exploring their students’ MAP Growth data with the Learning Continuum. What is it, exactly?
The Learning Continuum is a class-level report that gives teachers a view of all their students’ RIT scores so they can plan scaffolding and differentiated instruction. It helps you identify whether you need to reinforce learning, develop it, or introduce new material so that students can be appropriately challenged—and so that they can all be working toward meeting grade-level expectations.
It sounds like the continuum helps teachers locate each student’s zone of proximal development, or ZPD. Is that right?
Exactly. The Learning Continuum identifies the ZPD, that point of productive struggle, for kids. It helps teachers know what students already know, what’s likely still a bit out of reach for them, and what they can conquer with help.
Can teachers look only to the Learning Continuum when planning a lesson?
No. MAP Growth data—via the Learning Continuum—is just one way for teachers to understand where their students are in their learning. It’s an incredibly valuable way, but it’s one of many teachers should consider.
Why? Because students don’t see every single item from our item bank that’s appropriate for their grade level. That would make for a really long assessment. Instead, the Learning Continuum represents the concepts and skills of the entire item pool arranged by difficulty. So, many of the statements that appear in the Learning Continuum are based on an inference of what students are ready to learn. It’s a really good inference, but teachers still need to confirm that inference.
What other data sources should teachers use?
The short answer: formative assessment. But let me explain a bit more about MAP Growth data first.
A RIT score can indicate the likelihood of a student’s readiness to learn, their ZPD. It is helpful in constructing appropriate scaffolding and differentiation strategies to support kids in accessing that grade-level content. While “RIT” really stands for Rasch Unit scale, I prefer this definition of the acronym: Ready to Inform Teaching. And informing teaching is different from driving it, right?
When teachers are looking for day-to-day, minute-to-minute information about what kids know and are ready for next, they need to assess them day-to-day, minute-to-minute. An interim assessment is a great start, but it’s only given three times a year. They need to be gathering data more often. They need to combine MAP Growth data with formative assessment.
Where can educators learn more?
I encourage teachers to explore Teach. Learn. Grow. They can visit the archives for articles on assessment, formative assessment, and MAP Growth for content designed to help them strengthen their practice. Our YouTube channel also has valuable videos.
