MAP-M 6+ in 5th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The guidance was updated this year (just a couple of weeks ago) so it is new countywide for the Math 5/6 kids to take the middle school MAP.

It's common for kids who typically score high on the MAP-M, for their score to go down by around 15 points when they go from the 5th to 6th grade test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it common for 5th graders in 5/6 math to take the 6+ MAP-M in spring instead of waiting until 6th grade to switch to the new test?

I don’t recall this being the case for my older children, but my younger one recently took the 6th grade and above test.

To my knowledge, they don't do this in MCPS.

They do. That’s why I’m asking.

Which school does this?

I think it’s new this spring, and all of them.

[Anonymous]

Very frustrating that NWEA says not to switch tests mid-year but that is in fact exactly what MCPS did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very frustrating that NWEA says not to switch tests mid-year but that is in fact exactly what MCPS did.

You lose the Growth info for that season, but you get better data going forward for tracking loss/gains over the summer going into 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very frustrating that NWEA says not to switch tests mid-year but that is in fact exactly what MCPS did.

You lose the Growth info for that season, but you get better data going forward for tracking loss/gains over the summer going into 6th.

I don't understand why MCPS would be doing something the test producer explicitly says not to do.

[Anonymous]

MCPS is run by ineffective and unsupportive leaders who don’t actual care about the schools or kids. Our school fought back when the memo arrived and yet no one at the top cared or listened. We are told to follow orders even though the decision is not good for kids. It’s awful and parents should be reaching out to the math dept and directors. They don’t listen to teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is run by ineffective and unsupportive leaders who don’t actual care about the schools or kids. Our school fought back when the memo arrived and yet no one at the top cared or listened. We are told to follow orders even though the decision is not good for kids. It’s awful and parents should be reaching out to the math dept and directors. They don’t listen to teachers.

Why would the people at the top even think this was helpful? Could this provide a better indication of who is ready for Algebra in 6th than the current methods which seem to be up to each school are inconsistent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is run by ineffective and unsupportive leaders who don’t actual care about the schools or kids. Our school fought back when the memo arrived and yet no one at the top cared or listened. We are told to follow orders even though the decision is not good for kids. It’s awful and parents should be reaching out to the math dept and directors. They don’t listen to teachers.

Why is the decision not good for kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is run by ineffective and unsupportive leaders who don’t actual care about the schools or kids. Our school fought back when the memo arrived and yet no one at the top cared or listened. We are told to follow orders even though the decision is not good for kids. It’s awful and parents should be reaching out to the math dept and directors. They don’t listen to teachers.

Why would the people at the top even think this was helpful? Could this provide a better indication of who is ready for Algebra in 6th than the current methods which seem to be up to each school are inconsistent?

You didn't hear this from me but all the noise about the WPS offering Algebra in 6th to students has raised equity concerns among the top brass. Apparently, the first step in addressing it is to collect accurate metrics by using the 6th-grade MAP-M at the end of 5th.

[Anonymous]

So how did everyone’s kids do? I’m not sure which percentile makes sense (compare to spring 5th of published percentiles, or fall of 6th).

My own kid went from 270 to mid 250s.

[Anonymous]

Looking at https://sites.google.com/view/nweapercentilecalculator (unofficial extrapolation based on mean and standard deviation) it's pretty clear the tests and scores are *designed* to have no abrupt change in score when you switch tests.

But NWEA doesn't attempt statistical validity at the extremes, so scores have very little meaning at 99+%ile. 255+ for Winter 5th on the 2-5 test, is already "off the charts", and scores are unstable in that range, swinging wildly between tesr sessions.

Problem is, there is a narrow gap between "99%ile 5th grade" and "99%ile 12th grade", due to how advanced the highest graders are vs how non-advanced most 12 th graders are. Also, the test only tests basic non-honors curriculum material, so it can't distinguish talented kids with low exposure (who can solve harder problems on-grade level material) from A-grade kids who are learning on-level material.
And B-grade kids with exposure to higher level low-difficulty math get higher scores.

You get silly things like young kids who know division but not getting credit for "8÷2" because they didn't learn the long-division notation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is run by ineffective and unsupportive leaders who don’t actual care about the schools or kids. Our school fought back when the memo arrived and yet no one at the top cared or listened. We are told to follow orders even though the decision is not good for kids. It’s awful and parents should be reaching out to the math dept and directors. They don’t listen to teachers.

Unfortunately, they don’t listen to parents either! We had a group of parents band together to try to make some changes and it was clear those in charge simply don’t care.

Agree that MCPS is run by ineffective and unsupportive leaders.

[Anonymous]

My kid's score growth has been smooth from ES to MS. Looking at the score history there's no clue where the switch from 2-5 to 6+ was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is run by ineffective and unsupportive leaders who don’t actual care about the schools or kids. Our school fought back when the memo arrived and yet no one at the top cared or listened. We are told to follow orders even though the decision is not good for kids. It’s awful and parents should be reaching out to the math dept and directors. They don’t listen to teachers.

Why would the people at the top even think this was helpful? Could this provide a better indication of who is ready for Algebra in 6th than the current methods which seem to be up to each school are inconsistent?

You didn't hear this from me but all the noise about the WPS offering Algebra in 6th to students has raised equity concerns among the top brass. Apparently, the first step in addressing it is to collect accurate metrics by using the 6th-grade MAP-M at the end of 5th.

What is WPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is run by ineffective and unsupportive leaders who don’t actual care about the schools or kids. Our school fought back when the memo arrived and yet no one at the top cared or listened. We are told to follow orders even though the decision is not good for kids. It’s awful and parents should be reaching out to the math dept and directors. They don’t listen to teachers.

Why is it not good for kids?

What's awful about it?

The communication and coordination seems bad, but that's different from the decision being bad.