Getting to Know NWEA
BSE Assessment Update 2016
What are NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) for Primary Grades (MPG)?
NWEA Measures of Academic Progress for grades K-4. (MPG) are a series of tests that measure your student’s general knowledge in reading and math. The test is aligned to the Common Core Standards.
How Important are the assessments to students and teachers?
These tests help assess achievement levels of early learners. They let teachers know where students’ strengths are and if help is needed in any specific areas. NWEA is just one perspective of what level students are achieveing. Teachers already routinely assign projects and tasks, administer other informal assessments, discuss student work, and report grades. These are all very important ways of looking at student progress.
What are NWEA Measures of Academic Progress Used For?
They measure your student’s progress or growth in school. You may have a chart in your home on which you mark your student’s height at certain times such as on his/her birthday. This is a growth chart. It shows how much your child has grown from one year to the next. Measures of Academic Progress do the same sort of thing except they measure your student’s growth in reading and math skills.
How Do the Tests Measure Growth in Learning?
Measures of Academic Progress use scores to measure growth in reading and math. Scores depend upon two things: how many questions are answered correctly and the difficulty of each question.
What Do the Tests Cover?
Each Measure of Academic Progress is made up of parts which are called goals. Take a look at these sample goal areas for each test. Your student will take tests with goals that are similar to these.
Reading
· Foundational Skills
· Literature and Informational text
· Vocabulary Use and Functions
· Language and Writing
Mathematics
· Algebraic Thinking
· Number and Operations
· Measurement and Data
· Geometry
When you, your student, and your student’s teacher look at NWEA results, it may become apparent that certain goal areas need more attention than others.
Do All Students Take the Same Test?
Yes and No.
All students take a computerized reading and math test. Although every test has questions covering the same goal areas, not every test has the same questions, and test questions vary in difficulty. In a computerized adaptive test, the difficulty of the test is adjusted to the student’s performance, so each student sees different test questions.
The difficulty of each question is based on how well the student has answered the questions up to that point. As the student answers correctly, the questions become more difficult. If the student answers incorrectly, the questions become easier.
How is MAP for Primary (MPG) different from MAP for 2nd-10th grade:
MAP for Primary grades looks very different. First the test is read to the students through headphones. The test is designed for young learners. Starting in 2nd grade the test will not be read to students and students will be tested in Math, Reading and Language Arts.
Monitoring Growth in Student Achievement
Monitoring Growth in Student Achievement
The following table shows “average” RIT scores based on students nationwide. By locating your child’s grade level, you can compare his/her RIT scores from the Individual Student Report to the average scores of all students fall and spring.
Language
Grade Fall Spring
K — —
1 — —
2 175 190
3 191 200
4 201 207
Mathematics
Grade Fall Spring
K 144 159
1 163 179
2 178 191
3 192 203
4 204 213
Reading
Grade Fall Spring
K 143 158
1 160 177
2 176 190
3 190 199
4 200 207
Can Your Student Prepare for NWEA?
The best thing your student can do to prepare for testing is to work hard in school everyday. Regular attendance, a quality diet, and adequate rest are important factors for successful test performance. Our teachers will offer a calm test environment and only ask that your child does their personal best on each assessment!