Mcap testing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't even have the cogat testing results from last year...

You would think in a 1bn$ budget from MCPS that the Central Office would prioritize sharing the results of all the testing they subject our kids to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In no way are teachers evaluated by MCAP data. We don’t even get the results until well after the year ends. When we analyze data, we look at our current class. So if I’m a 4th grade teacher, the 5th grade teachers are the ones that get the results and look for trends for my current class.

MCAP is a complete waste of time and should just be traded in for something like MAP.

Evaluation can be done for the following year. If you didn't do well one year, fine, they'll give you a pass that year and transfer or let you go the following year.

State is required to assess students. Back in our day it was the Iowa state test or something. Now it's called this.

This is not how teacher evaluation happens. Teachers are evaluated based on observations. In my 25 year career, I’ve never had an administrator bring up past test scores. However, that might be because I am in a Title 1 school, so our goal is only growth as most of our kids have no chance of passing.

Depressing this is coming from an educator. Children rise to the level of their expectations.

If you’re not in a title 1 School, you probably shouldn’t comment. Growth is always the goal! These tests are written at a very high level, especially for children where English is not their first language. I have multiple kids in my fifth grade class who are still using their fingers to add five and four. If I can somehow get them from a pre-kindergarten level to a third grade level you better believe that is success! Will they do well on the test? No, of course not. But that’s OK. The children are growing and that’s the goal of education.

And it does not help to have ignorant people like you stating that teachers don’t have high enough expectations. The expectation that we somehow take children who have never had an education, cannot read in their home language, do not know how to read or speak English, and have not been exposed to any math and just be able to teach them at grade level just because we have high expectations is ridiculous. Oh, and of course, let’s not forget that the test is in English!

Thank you. I'm a parent in a cluster with many Title 1 schools and the toxic positivity of people who just parrot that we don't have enough expectations for our kids is not helpful.

Should we push beyond what our kids think they're capable of? Absolutely. But that's going to look DIFFERENT for each kid. Context matters. Their starting point matters!

Insisting "all kids should be able to access grade level content" when said children are 2 or 3 grade levels behind is UNREALISTIC and UNHELPFUL.

Your approach, which focuses on improvement, is much more logical.

However, what I think MCPS should be doing, which they don't do, is also develop meaningful and rigorous remedial supports that ensure kids who are behind don't stay behind forever. That could look like requiring summer sessions for kids who are 1-2 grade levels behind.

DP.

PP's suggestion appears to base approach/focus on the profile of the school rather than on the profiles of individual students. So what of the students at these schools who are not greatly struggling or who have considerably greater capacity? The low expectations at the schools depress their learning and achievement when their example, instead, could be used to help lift their classmates.

Of course, the allowance for that differentiation to provide both the support to those in need and the opportunity to those more capable, covering teaching resources, facility logistics training, etc., would take more differential funding for those schools than Title 1 provides. This is an equity concern MCPS does not well address, leading to a vicious cycle of disservice and underachievement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the rationale for having both MCAP and MAP? I've googled around to try to understand what each test covers, but didn't find anything that compares the two?

+1 So many testing time for our kids...so little communication from MCPS...even on the results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the rationale for having both MCAP and MAP? I've googled around to try to understand what each test covers, but didn't find anything that compares the two?

MCAP provides a snapshot of a student's mastery of Maryland state learning standards. Averages are used as part of the school's "report card."

MAP is more generic (i.e., not MD-specific) and provides a series of comparable snapshots of a student's mastery of material (with some commonalities, but not state standards per se) over time. In adition to that trend and comparative scoring (national percentile provided), subdomains of knowledge are assessed, allowing a more individualized/nuanced understanding of a student's strengths and weaknesses. Where a teacher might have time to do so (uncertain, and highly variable among schools & classrooms) this can assist in "honing" or differentiating a lesson so as better to meet educational need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the rationale for having both MCAP and MAP? I've googled around to try to understand what each test covers, but didn't find anything that compares the two?

MCAP provides a snapshot of a student's mastery of Maryland state learning standards. Averages are used as part of the school's "report card."

MAP is more generic (i.e., not MD-specific) and provides a series of comparable snapshots of a student's mastery of material (with some commonalities, but not state standards per se) over time. In adition to that trend and comparative scoring (national percentile provided), subdomains of knowledge are assessed, allowing a more individualized/nuanced understanding of a student's strengths and weaknesses. Where a teacher might have time to do so (uncertain, and highly variable among schools & classrooms) this can assist in "honing" or differentiating a lesson so as better to meet educational need.

If MCAP is important enough relative to MAP to take away active learning time from our kids, why can't parents see the results?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the rationale for having both MCAP and MAP? I've googled around to try to understand what each test covers, but didn't find anything that compares the two?

MCAP provides a snapshot of a student's mastery of Maryland state learning standards. Averages are used as part of the school's "report card."

MAP is more generic (i.e., not MD-specific) and provides a series of comparable snapshots of a student's mastery of material (with some commonalities, but not state standards per se) over time. In adition to that trend and comparative scoring (national percentile provided), subdomains of knowledge are assessed, allowing a more individualized/nuanced understanding of a student's strengths and weaknesses. Where a teacher might have time to do so (uncertain, and highly variable among schools & classrooms) this can assist in "honing" or differentiating a lesson so as better to meet educational need.

If MCAP is important enough relative to MAP to take away active learning time from our kids, why can't parents see the results?

That is an excellent question. A short time to ensure all across the school system (or state) have taken it and any anomalies handled, sure, but there's really no reason to have the information in the state/school systems' hands exclusively from that point, and good reason to provide students/caregivers with more actionable feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the rationale for having both MCAP and MAP? I've googled around to try to understand what each test covers, but didn't find anything that compares the two?

MCAP provides a snapshot of a student's mastery of Maryland state learning standards. Averages are used as part of the school's "report card."

MAP is more generic (i.e., not MD-specific) and provides a series of comparable snapshots of a student's mastery of material (with some commonalities, but not state standards per se) over time. In adition to that trend and comparative scoring (national percentile provided), subdomains of knowledge are assessed, allowing a more individualized/nuanced understanding of a student's strengths and weaknesses. Where a teacher might have time to do so (uncertain, and highly variable among schools & classrooms) this can assist in "honing" or differentiating a lesson so as better to meet educational need.

If MCAP is important enough relative to MAP to take away active learning time from our kids, why can't parents see the results?

Ask the state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the rationale for having both MCAP and MAP? I've googled around to try to understand what each test covers, but didn't find anything that compares the two?

MCAP provides a snapshot of a student's mastery of Maryland state learning standards. Averages are used as part of the school's "report card."

MAP is more generic (i.e., not MD-specific) and provides a series of comparable snapshots of a student's mastery of material (with some commonalities, but not state standards per se) over time. In adition to that trend and comparative scoring (national percentile provided), subdomains of knowledge are assessed, allowing a more individualized/nuanced understanding of a student's strengths and weaknesses. Where a teacher might have time to do so (uncertain, and highly variable among schools & classrooms) this can assist in "honing" or differentiating a lesson so as better to meet educational need.

If MCAP is important enough relative to MAP to take away active learning time from our kids, why can't parents see the results?

Ask the state

Who can we ask at "the state"? Why can't MCPS which clearly uses the MCAP to generate school profiles, just share the data at the student level so parents can see how their kids are being assessed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't even have the cogat testing results from last year...

That’s because it was not administered last year. They couldn’t get the contract done on time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't even have the cogat testing results from last year...

You would think in a 1bn$ budget from MCPS that the Central Office would prioritize sharing the results of all the testing they subject our kids to.

Not when the results show how little we are getting from the $1.3B spent each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the rationale for having both MCAP and MAP? I've googled around to try to understand what each test covers, but didn't find anything that compares the two?

MCAP provides a snapshot of a student's mastery of Maryland state learning standards. Averages are used as part of the school's "report card."

MAP is more generic (i.e., not MD-specific) and provides a series of comparable snapshots of a student's mastery of material (with some commonalities, but not state standards per se) over time. In adition to that trend and comparative scoring (national percentile provided), subdomains of knowledge are assessed, allowing a more individualized/nuanced understanding of a student's strengths and weaknesses. Where a teacher might have time to do so (uncertain, and highly variable among schools & classrooms) this can assist in "honing" or differentiating a lesson so as better to meet educational need.

If MCAP is important enough relative to MAP to take away active learning time from our kids, why can't parents see the results?

Ask the state

The state gets the reports to MCPS many months before MCPS gets them to parents. MCPS had the individual reports in August 2024, yet parents didn’t get reports until early 2025–and that was an improvement over the prior year, when they came in the spring.

MCPS either isn’t competent enough to release the reports, or doesn’t want parents to see them. Or both.