SPS Spring MAP Testing Policy Elementary, K-8, Middle, High Schools

Updated 3/18/13 Spring MAP Testing Dates April 22 - June 7, 2013 by June 7. No extensions will be granted.

All schools:

All testing must be completed Spring MAP testing Second-grade

,
the MAP for the roster, Use services - Reading

requirements: through
8th grade students

All Kindergarten

- Reading and Math or above - Recommend

students who are in the 26th percentile - Recommend

2-5 (not the Primary)* Algebra 1 students Reading. Optional NWEA Algebra EOC** below standard on the State Assessment To determine
9th grade - Reading, only for students

for 9th graders at or above standard.

the Academic Data Warehouse Detail Spreadsheet.

ADW State Assessment reports, or the MAP Student which students to test or

If you have questions about determining

how to find them, please contact Kristin Ewing.

10th_12th grade ELL, Special Ed and students

receiving intervention

and Math OSPI Benchmark Assessment Pilot Schools: as outlined above.

All students must take the Spring MAP test in Reading and Mathematics

*Second Grade testing: The SPSMath, Literacy and Research departments recommend that students who are at the
25th

2nd

grade

percentile or below should continue to take the MAP for Primary Grades.
25th

Second grade students above the

percentile should be taking the MAP 2-5 tests. Exceptions can be Students who were previously above the 25% and dropped

made for IEPsor documented interventions.

below are also eligible to take the Primary test. A drop in RIT may happen the season 1'n which students change tests - this is normal due to the change in how the test is delivered and style of the test. **NWEA Algebra EOCuses the same RITscore as Math 6+, but singles out the Algebra goal strand. It is designed to be administered at the end of the course (spring), with Math 6+ being administered at the beginning and mid-course (fall & winter). more information. Exemption Forms Required: at the end of MAP testing for ALL schools. These exemptions IEP exemptions, and excused/unexcused See the NWEA Algebra End of Course Summary document for

Exemption forms will be required include refusals (opt-outs)

by parents or students, and directions

absences. The updated template

will be sent out at the beginning of testing.

Questions about the Spring 2013 MAP testing policy should go to Kristin Ewing, District Data Coach and MAP Coordinator, kcewing@lseattleschools.org, 206-252-0495.

NWEA Algebra End of Course (EOC) Assessment Summary

Information provided by the Kingsbury Research Center, NWEA, 2012

NWEA provides an Algebra 1 end of course (EOe) assessment which is recommended as the spring assessment for students completing an Algebra 1 course. Summary: It uses the same RITscore as the NWEA MAP 6+, but singles out the Algebra goal strand. This assessment can be administered in the spring to measure growth in RIT based on content learned in an Algebra 1 class. The NWEA Algebra EOCis not designed to be administered as a fall baseline or winter benchmark measure; that should be the MAP Math 6+. It is appropriate/reasonable to use as part of student growth comparing the overall RITfrom the Math 6+ to the RITfrom the NWEA Algebra EOC. It is part of Seattle's available tests, and can be chosen as the MAP Math option for middle and high school students finishing Algebra 1 at no additional cost.

Further information:

Before we can discuss the use of NWEA End of Course tests to measure growth, we must first discuss the purpose of the End of Course tests. They were originally designed as tests to be taken at the end of the high school course - to measure content that a student knows in one specialty of math after instruction is complete. The EOCshould not be used as tests at the beginning for Algebra and Geometry as they largely cover content that would be introduced during the course and, therefore would simply frustrate students. These tests would not provide an accurate estimate of their prior math achievement. The general math test (6+) provides the most robust assessment of what students know in the broader discipline and thus is the best instrument to use to establish starting performance. The Math 6+ and NWEA End of Course Math tests use the same, unidimensional scale. However, the End of Course measures one strand, whereas the 6+ test measures multiple Washington strands for Math. These differences often unnecessarily complicate understanding of what growth in math means when moving from the Math 6+ test to the End of Course Math tests. We need to compare two scores for a student. The first is the student's score from a test that is appropriate given the student's level of instruction in the content domain of interest; the 6+ test. The second is the student's score from another appropriate but somewhat more difficult test that corresponds to the difficulty of the content of instruction in the same domain; the End of Course test. Both tests are part of the same domain and both are tied to the same scale. Both are administered following appropriate instruction and both are

Updated March, 2013 - Research,Evaluation and Assessment,Seattle Public Schools

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comprised of content that was covered in instruction:

These are two very good estimates of the

student's achievement in math. It is, therefore, entirely appropriate and defensible to determine change by subtracting the (overall) Math 6+ RITfrom the End of Course Math RIT. Using a 6+ math test in the Winter (or from the prior spring) before instruction in Algebra 1 begins and following up with an Algebra EOCtest in the spring, of course, is reasonable and it would be reasonable to apply your value-added approach to that data. Caution - Individual goal strand scores from Math 6+ tests should not be used for measuring growth. If they are used at all, 6+ goal scores could be used to help guide understanding of the growth observed calculated from the total test scores. Use of goal scores in the calculation of growth is not recommended at either the group or individual student level. Using goal scores rather than total scores to calculate growth cuts the precision of the growth estimates by more than half at the individual level and increases the variance around group mean estimates by more than a third.

***

Updated March, 2013 - Research, Evaluation and Assessment, Seattle

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