Standardized Testing in Private

[Anonymous]

I just heard that Bullis will be doing MAPP standardized testing in K-8. Is this common in private schools? My concern is they will start teaching to the test and not for critical thinking skills and creative ways of learning.

If anyone can give me more info, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean the MAP test from NWEA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean the MAP test from NWEA?

That may be it. A friend just told me about it. I totally get if they use it to assess how the kids are doing, but I am just hoping that they don't teach to it. Do most privates use this?

[Anonymous]

You realize it's possible to administer a test without "teaching to it" at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You realize it's possible to administer a test without "teaching to it" at all?

Of course.

[Anonymous]

The schools DC went to did standardized testing in k-8. They both used ERB, not MAP. They did not “teach to the test” and it was not a stressful experience for DC. We received the results, but they weren’t used for anything in terms of the child. I assume the schools used the results in aggregate for general assessment purposes.

I think most schools use either ERB or MAP. Not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Pp again - I think the school did have to supply the 7th grade ERB results to some HS along with the transcript as part of the application process. So I guess that year was more important.

[Anonymous]

GDS does MAP testing in the LMS (I'm not sure which grades). It is never mentioned except on the handful of days when it's administered. No teaching to the test, no emphasis on its importance. The information that it gives me (objective information about my child's progress) is worth the small time commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools DC went to did standardized testing in k-8. They both used ERB, not MAP. They did not “teach to the test” and it was not a stressful experience for DC. We received the results, but they weren’t used for anything in terms of the child. I assume the schools used the results in aggregate for general assessment purposes.

I think most schools use either ERB or MAP. Not a big deal.

Thank you! This is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS does MAP testing in the LMS (I'm not sure which grades). It is never mentioned except on the handful of days when it's administered. No teaching to the test, no emphasis on its importance. The information that it gives me (objective information about my child's progress) is worth the small time commitment.

Thank you! I’m all for information on progress.

[Anonymous]

Our K-8 used ERB testing. It was a useful snapshot of how my child was doing, and it turned out to be very helpful at getting them used to standardized testing in general (so the SSAT was not a big deal to them). Similar to the prior poster, the ERB was talked about a lot in the week they took it, not mentioned at all otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just heard that Bullis will be doing MAPP standardized testing in K-8. Is this common in private schools? My concern is they will start teaching to the test and not for critical thinking skills and creative ways of learning.

If anyone can give me more info, it would be greatly appreciated.

Meh. I think the concern about "teaching to the test" is a little overwrought and sounds like talking points someone sold you. It's not a terrible thing for a school to teach kids how to take a standardized test. Better they learn it now or you figure out your kid is not good at it now than figuring this all out mid-high school.

[Anonymous]

MAP is a good test. Is is an adaptive test where questions get harder or easier until the test settles on a “score” for the student. For example, if a 4th grader keeps getting questions right, the questions will get harder and harder until he starts getting questions wrong and the questions stop getting harder (the algorithm is much more complex, but generally this is how it works) and a “score” is determined. A 4th grader could end up with a score that is average for a 2nd grader or a score as high as what is average for a 10th grader. Throughout the year and across years, the test uses an equal-interval scale, so scores can be compared within the year and year over year. You can also compare scores to the averages of the district/school in which your kid is enrolled (if the school shares this data) and against a nationally normed group. A teacher really can’t teach to the MAP test.

a teacher really can’t teach to it.

[Anonymous]

Don't most private schools do some kind of standardized testing beginning in 3rd grade, if not earlier?

[Anonymous]

Ours uses i-ready and the local public uses MAP. Based on child taking both tests, math seems similar but the English percentile was way off (higher for iready).