CES Decision Letters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Again, 3rd graders do not have PARCC testing and CES decisions are not based on PARCC results.

They do include MAP testing, which is a wonderful test and here to stay. The reason it's wonderful is because the test adapts to the child and it is not timed. This allows outliers to really shine, as the questions get progressively harder if the child answers them correctly and you can take all the time you want. So a student who functions several grades ahead can get the same score that a middle or high schooler would on the same test, which is what happened to my children.

There was a discussion some months ago on DCUM about how certain schools illegally limited the time students had on MAP, so if this is happening at your school, you should speak up. If it is administered in a timed manner, this completely defeats the purpose of the test, which is to find out to what point each student can stretch themselves to answer more difficult questions.

And yes, PARCC is being phased out.

Actually, getting the "same score" as a middle or high schooler does not mean much. NWEA says MAP scores are not meant to be compared across grade levels. Please take a look at

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/473845.page#13652820

and the two links to NWEA in that post.

You are technically correct. However, it gives you a pretty good idea of what they're capable of.

NP. PP is more than technically correct. Once your child starts to hit the “ceiling” of their MAP test, they can start to score very, very high scores. I know, because my second grader scores like a high-performing high schooler. But she does NOT have anything close to high school capabilities. The tests don’t contain content like the higher grade tests. So all I know is that, compared to her peers in second grade, she’s doing just fine in math. MAP tests are nice because outliers do shine, as OP says, and it can be a wake up call for a teacher who didn’t recognize that in a student, but people must be careful about getting too excited about the results. They are just one piece of an imperfect puzzle that MCPS uses to try to make the best decision they can.