MAP Test Scores Stagnating or Dropping, is that a problem?

[Anonymous]

Do you expect MAP scores to increase over time consistently? If a student stays at the same level for multiple years, or even drops, would you be worried?

This is for a middle schooler who is consistently in the 90-something percentile. The latest testing was something like 92nd percentile for one and 95th for the other, but the actual MAP score numbers went down from last year, when I think they were closer to 99th percentile for both. The projection shows an expected jump, but that seems the opposite of past trends.

I feel like an idiot asking the school, which will probably say look at the percentile, he's doing great. But is the score drop revealing that the school is not adding much value?

[Anonymous]

Educator here… MAP is designed to show growth in knowledge. Stagnate or a decrease in percentile shows that your child isn’t gaining knowledge beyond what they already know and can do. Concerning? Depends. On the one hand your child is far above grade level standards. On the other hand they aren’t getting “smarter.” An ex, a 5th grader performing in the 90th percentile needs 8th grade and Algebra level Math to show growth.

The school will not be the least bit concerned about a drop when the student is far above grade level. Unless they are willing to subject accelerate you will need to provide above level learning at home or through an academic center/program.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids who always does well on MAP tests fluctuates quite a bit on the reading one. I have noticed the Fall scores are a bit of a wild card…probably the summer slump as he doesn’t read unless forced to. He tends to improve in the later ones and made an 8 percentage point jump. I would probably wait to get the next batch before reaching out to the school.

[Anonymous]

High percentile kids are hard to gauge. I’ve read the math MAP, once they start scoring >260 isn’t reliable and doesn’t mean much. IMO that has been my experience. My child has scored above 260 since 4th grade and then randomly in 6th scored 250 something. Then in 7th jumped way up again. Reading was literally the same score for 3 years in a row. Went from 99% to low 80s. Then jumped back up to mid 90s in late middle school.

I think it is a combo of they aren’t learning new material in school at all and the tests don’t have a very high ceiling. If you have an advanced learning, you need to be on top of it at home to give them challenges and new material. Schools cannot accommodate this. They are swamped just getting majority of kids to be AT grade level. It isn’t even a matter of keep your child “ahead” it is a matter of creating new pathways in the brain. To do this, the brain needs to work.

[Anonymous]

Agree.

Public schools and all the testing are simply constraining

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you expect MAP scores to increase over time consistently? If a student stays at the same level for multiple years, or even drops, would you be worried?

This is for a middle schooler who is consistently in the 90-something percentile. The latest testing was something like 92nd percentile for one and 95th for the other, but the actual MAP score numbers went down from last year, when I think they were closer to 99th percentile for both. The projection shows an expected jump, but that seems the opposite of past trends.

I feel like an idiot asking the school, which will probably say look at the percentile, he's doing great. But is the score drop revealing that the school is not adding much value?

Yes, your son didn't learn as much last year as kids in the 99th percentile. This means his school isn't adding much (academic) value. However, regression to the mean is perfectly normal, especially when at extremes of the spectrum. I wouldn't worry too much, but if it's eating you up, there's always RSM/AoPS/Curie/math competitions/ALEKS

[Anonymous]

Op here, thanks for the feedback. This is helpful and gets at my concerns that the school is not adding a lot of academic value. This is a 2e ADHD kid who struggles with organization and motivation and won't put effort into things that seem uninteresting or like busy work. Standardized test scores are strong but grades are not at the top because of the missing motivation.

I'm not sure what to do as a parent but will look into some of the resources mentioned above.

[Anonymous]

so my daughter ella 8th grader in the winter one my scored was 210 then it dropped To 199 I'm concerned here is the percentiles winter 210 5% wich she took her time doing this test . her teacher said that's 2nd grade levels. she took 2 hours 30 mids on this test e wanted to rock it. next in spring 199 it dropped 11pints 199 now she was in the 1% us as parents were embarrassed she gets all c- or fs nothing would help so we helped her back same thing happened this time scores were 198 and 190 she promised us she was trying her best and she was sad she was 2% whole grade held back again we finally got what we wanted 210 and up again 250 she was now in 33% we wanted her just to get above 50% so we held her back in reading nothing else she got 260 and 290 she is in 69% then fully off to high school scores 300 and 310 42% now In 10th grade 310 and 299 31% off to 11th 299 and 281 21% this was a discription of my childs education over time

[Anonymous]

MAP scores are highly unstable, because the test content is semi-arbitrary (especially in Reading) and the "adaptive" "RIT" pseudoscience.

On top of that, you don't get any detailed feedback. The teacher does, but that is useless.
Hang out on Khan Academy to see what your kid's actual gaps are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so my daughter ella 8th grader in the winter one my scored was 210 then it dropped To 199 I'm concerned here is the percentiles winter 210 5% wich she took her time doing this test . her teacher said that's 2nd grade levels. she took 2 hours 30 mids on this test e wanted to rock it. next in spring 199 it dropped 11pints 199 now she was in the 1% us as parents were embarrassed she gets all c- or fs nothing would help so we helped her back same thing happened this time scores were 198 and 190 she promised us she was trying her best and she was sad she was 2% whole grade held back again we finally got what we wanted 210 and up again 250 she was now in 33% we wanted her just to get above 50% so we held her back in reading nothing else she got 260 and 290 she is in 69% then fully off to high school scores 300 and 310 42% now In 10th grade 310 and 299 31% off to 11th 299 and 281 21% this was a discription of my childs education over time

Can you try that again, with punctuation and line breaks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so my daughter ella 8th grader in the winter one my scored was 210 then it dropped To 199 I'm concerned here is the percentiles winter 210 5% wich she took her time doing this test . her teacher said that's 2nd grade levels. she took 2 hours 30 mids on this test e wanted to rock it. next in spring 199 it dropped 11pints 199 now she was in the 1% us as parents were embarrassed she gets all c- or fs nothing would help so we helped her back same thing happened this time scores were 198 and 190 she promised us she was trying her best and she was sad she was 2% whole grade held back again we finally got what we wanted 210 and up again 250 she was now in 33% we wanted her just to get above 50% so we held her back in reading nothing else she got 260 and 290 she is in 69% then fully off to high school scores 300 and 310 42% now In 10th grade 310 and 299 31% off to 11th 299 and 281 21% this was a discription of my childs education over time

These are absolutely not MAP scores with corresponding percentiles.

280+ is well into the high 90+ percentiles, through high school.

[Anonymous]

My kids scores fluctuate. You really need a year or even two of data before you can really spot a trend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids who always does well on MAP tests fluctuates quite a bit on the reading one. I have noticed the Fall scores are a bit of a wild card…probably the summer slump as he doesn’t read unless forced to. He tends to improve in the later ones and made an 8 percentage point jump. I would probably wait to get the next batch before reaching out to the school.

Same with me -- one of my kids always stagnated or raw score on MAP reading is down a few points from Spring to Fall. Then it most years shoots up to where a steadier climb would have taken him by Winter....

[Anonymous]

MAP doesn’t work for smart kids. It’s hard to show “growth” when you are already scoring very high. I started opting my kids out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Educator here… MAP is designed to show growth in knowledge. Stagnate or a decrease in percentile shows that your child isn’t gaining knowledge beyond what they already know and can do. Concerning? Depends. On the one hand your child is far above grade level standards. On the other hand they aren’t getting “smarter.” An ex, a 5th grader performing in the 90th percentile needs 8th grade and Algebra level Math to show growth.

The school will not be the least bit concerned about a drop when the student is far above grade level. Unless they are willing to subject accelerate you will need to provide above level learning at home or through an academic center/program.

NP. Thank you for explaining this. I asked DS's teacher (1st grade) about him dropping from 98th percentile to 94th percentile and showing his growth as only 45th percentile on the spring test and felt brushed off. Basically told "he's fine" and has already mastered everything for first grade. Okay, great, but I wanted to know if the drop coupled with the below-average growth was concerning. Also, I know he's mastered first grade--that's why he's in the accelerated math group (30 minutes once a week, which isn't much) and working on multiplication and very basic division.

I guess we need to look into outside acceleration. I'm less worried about the absolute percentile than I am about the growth. I suspected he stagnated a bit and wasn't learning much and this only reinforces that feeling.