NWEA: MAP-ping the Future of Education

Computer adaptive testing.  New standards and accountability measures proposed nationwide are setting schools searching for the most accurate, reliable, and standards-aligned assessment systems to give students, teachers, and administrators timely feedback about student gains, struggles, and progress.  And there’s certainly quite a few routes to choose from.  Assessments created in-house take both time and energy to create, grade, and leave much room for human error.  State and national “high stakes” testing tends to give more generalized data, and due to the massive breadth of the programs can only feasibly be administered once a year, usually testing one or two grade levels.  The Northwest Evaluation Association™ (NWEA™ )—a global not-for-profit educational organization, founded by educators and 40 years in the assessment game—is aiming to directly address each of these concerns with their MAP® (Measures of Academic Progress®) assessment system.

With more than 7,400 partners in U.S. and international school districts, their computer adaptive, norm-based MAP test has been sweeping the nation (with over 35 million student users nationwide), providing relatively quick assessments that are standards aligned, user-friendly, and give almost instantaneous feedback directly linked to specific skill and concept mastery.  But with the almost constant evolution of modern education, it makes sense that schools would be apprehensive to “jump on board” with the latest and greatest.  Education World sat down with NWEA’s Vice President of Communications & Digital Strategy, Jean Fleming, to discuss the MAP assessment and some of the natural anxieties around its adoption.

In your opinion, what are some of the bigger benefits to using computer-adaptive tests like MAP over more traditional routes?

Computer adaptive testing offers a few advantages over other models for getting insight into student achievement. First, computer adaptive testing can be an efficient way to understand what students know and are ready to learn. Second, they require less time to administer, and can deliver information back to teachers and students more quickly—so that’s helpful in today’s climate where there is a lot of discussion about how to best use classroom time.  Third, when done well, these tests can help identify student strengths and where they need additional support.

What we hear from teachers is that MAP has helped them see their students’ needs and potential. Chris Hull is a teacher in Chicago who blogs for us, and he says it best, I think:

“The data also gives me a jumping-off point for communicating with students about their progress. I conduct “mini-conferences” with my 7th grade students at least once per quarter. Data points are helpful for articulating where the students currently are and identifying the goals they are striving toward.”

What does MAP bring to the table over some of the other computer-adaptive tests on the market?

Our Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment is aligned to state standards and designed to measure growth over time. To do this, it adapts with every test question, or item. That means that when a student answers a question, the next question will be more difficult. If he or she answers incorrectly, the next question will get a little bit easier. Other adaptive assessments adapt with a set of questions—every 6 or 10. This is called staged adaptive, and requires fewer items, but does not necessarily yield results that are as precise as item-level adaptive tests like MAP.

Another unique aspect of MAP is that it draws items from a deep pool of questions. These can be from a student’s current grade placement, but could also be below or above grade level. This allows teachers to see the student’s actual instructional level. So if a child is behind in an area, that will become apparent—and the same if a child is well ahead, allowing teachers to adjust instruction accordingly.

What would you say to a teacher who is nervous about relying too much on computer adaptive tests, especially when connected to SLOs, teacher performance, etc.?

Teachers are the experts on their students, and data from assessments should be used in conjunction with other information to plan instruction and evaluate progress. We very much support the notion of multiple measures being the best way to get the complete picture of how students are navigating the school year.

Computer adaptive tests given at set intervals throughout the year—like MAP—can be useful in working with student learning objectives because they can provide a periodic check on progress toward those goals, and give teachers information they need to change instruction and therefore impact a student’s trajectory. We have written some helpful blogs on how to use MAP data with SLOs at our Teach Learn Grow blog.

Here in the state of Connecticut (as well as across the nation) for the past few years, we've seen the rise and fall of a lot of large-scale assessment and standards programs.  To a teacher that doesn't want to "teach to the test", but still wants to see their students succeed, how does MAP help to align this work?

MAP helps teachers understand where students are starting from, and shows their growth toward attaining standards through the year. So it gives teachers a clear view of the class—and no class is made up of kids entirely functioning at grade level in every subject. Additionally, MAP can help predict performance on many end of the year state tests through the linking studies NWEA conducts. Educators can see what’s available for their state at our website by selecting the “where are you located” link at the top. 

What we hear from teachers is that MAP has helped them see their students’ needs and potential. Chris Hull is a teacher in Chicago who blogs for us, and he says it best, I think:

“The data also gives me a jumping-off point for communicating with students about their progress. I conduct “mini-conferences” with my 7th grade students at least once per quarter. Data points are helpful for articulating where the students currently are and identifying the goals they are striving toward.”

What are the major benefits to adoption of MAP at the school and district administrator level?

Districts get an efficient tool that helps inform decisions at every level. We’ve talked about how teachers can use the information to triage students in their classes and tailor instruction as needed. Principals can understand how things are trending in their building, and district administrators can see how schools are performing overall.

Also, because MAP uses the same scale—called the RIT scale—from kindergarten through high school, it gives a unique opportunity to look at trends over time—incredibly helpful for strategic planning, curriculum evaluation and the like. And, because the RIT scale has been rigorously maintained, and because we conduct frequent norming studies with large, nationally representative samples of students, everyone can use the data to make informed comparisons and put the growth of students into a context. This is helpful for talking with parents, school boards and the broader community. We all want to see our children learn and grow—MAP is a way to help demonstrate that growth.

Written by Keith Lambert, Education World Contributor

Lambert is an English / Language Arts teacher and teacher trainer in Connecticut