MAP scores for all to see

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids scoring in the 99% already know they are smart. It's like hiding a lap time from a fast swimmer. If you try to make it a secret they will learn to be ashamed and think it's something to hide.

But when our old schools just sent the scores home in the mail later, the kids never asked about them. I wasn’t hiding the score, I just wasn’t sticking it in their faces. They do know they’re smart, and they have plenty to back that up in the form of meaningful classroom performance.

[Anonymous]

It’s definitely wrong to post their scores. DS said he saw the scores of all of his classmates and was by far the lowest and felt really badly. I applaud those students with high scores, they should be proud and should be celebrated for their achievement, but for the rest of us, could we have more privacy? As adults, we don’t advertise our salaries, let’s give our children the same courtesy.

[Anonymous]

If MAP scores are essentially posted in the classroom, this violates FERPA, which protects student educational records like test scores.

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs97/web/97859.asp

At a minimum, parents should have to give permission before their kid's score is divulged to their classmates or have the right to request the feature be turned off.

[Anonymous]

PP, I’m not entirely sure how he saw everyone’s scores, but somehow he saw the list. I don’t know if it had their names on it either (it’s hard to get a 4th grader to give you details). All I know is that he could see the range of scores and his was much lower than everyone else’s. He used to get 99th percentile at the beginning of last year but it has been gradually slipping and for him to see how far down he has come was heartbreaking for him. I hope at the very least he will be motivated to work harder but MAP scores really shouldn’t be shared, even if the names are not on it. Not all children are emotionally ready to know their score and certainly not to compare to other children. I hate the idea of academics being so important in elementary age. I know some will disagree but let’s develop good work ethic and study habits instead of focusing on scores at this age.

[Anonymous]

OP, I highly doubt the scores were posted.

If your kid saw a list of EVERY student’s score, and you’re not able to figure out how he found out those scores, I would bet $1000000 that he was snooping somewhere he was NOT supposed to be snooping.

Tell your kid that he’s not supposed to be going through his teacher’s stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, I’m not entirely sure how he saw everyone’s scores, but somehow he saw the list. I don’t know if it had their names on it either (it’s hard to get a 4th grader to give you details). All I know is that he could see the range of scores and his was much lower than everyone else’s. He used to get 99th percentile at the beginning of last year but it has been gradually slipping and for him to see how far down he has come was heartbreaking for him. I hope at the very least he will be motivated to work harder but MAP scores really shouldn’t be shared, even if the names are not on it. Not all children are emotionally ready to know their score and certainly not to compare to other children. I hate the idea of academics being so important in elementary age. I know some will disagree but let’s develop good work ethic and study habits instead of focusing on scores at this age.

Please clarify with your kid how exactly he managed to see a list of scores.

[Anonymous]

At our school, the practice is, when a student is done with his test, he raises his hand and walks over to the teacher to report his score. Because kids might finish at the same time, the scores remain on screens for everyone to see until the teacher calls each kid to her desk. In the process of recording each score, a teacher may inadvertently divulge other students' scores if the teacher and the student are viewing the teacher's screen. I don't think PP's child was snooping or behaving inappropriately.

[Anonymous]

Teachers don't need to record these scores on some excel spread sheet. When students take these tests, the test itself is associated with the specific student, i.e. connected to their mcps ID. So for a teacher to have to call each child over once he is done to record scores on a spreadsheet sounds like some kind of backwards technology being employed. Does not sound correct to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, I’m not entirely sure how he saw everyone’s scores, but somehow he saw the list. I don’t know if it had their names on it either (it’s hard to get a 4th grader to give you details). All I know is that he could see the range of scores and his was much lower than everyone else’s. He used to get 99th percentile at the beginning of last year but it has been gradually slipping and for him to see how far down he has come was heartbreaking for him. I hope at the very least he will be motivated to work harder but MAP scores really shouldn’t be shared, even if the names are not on it. Not all children are emotionally ready to know their score and certainly not to compare to other children. I hate the idea of academics being so important in elementary age. I know some will disagree but let’s develop good work ethic and study habits instead of focusing on scores at this age.

Please clarify with your kid how exactly he managed to see a list of scores.

DP. I would also love an answer to this question.
The only time I, myself, saw something resembling a list of MAP scores with names and numbers on them was during parent-teacher conference. The teacher announces my child's score and put the list away. There's no way it would be posted for everyone to see in my DC's class. My guess is, PP's child did snoop where he wasn't supposed to.
And as for kids exchanging scores, well, not much you could do about that. My DD says there' s a boy in her class with a stratospheric MAP-M that he tells everyone about (something like 270 in 5th grade). I'm not even sure he's not making it up, but if he isn't, he'll be probably going to a middle school magnet. Good for him.

[Anonymous]

PP here. It might differ by school, but Ive confirmed that this is the way it's done at my school although I'm not sure if it is an excel spreadsheet or a testing application. This process was hard for my sensitive kid because teachers can signal that they are pleased with the students with the high scores and disappointed in those with low scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see no issues with sharing scores, if that is what the kids want. Kids share all sorts of achievements and it's about time kids can take some pride in their scores. Children who make it to elite travel soccer teams didn't get there by kicking around in their backyard. Their parents "enriched them". If kids got high MAP-M scores because they got enrichment, I'm okay with them taking pride in that too. (FWIW, it's much harder to do well on MAP-R than MAP-M)

Last week, DS told me a kid at his school ran a 2-minute mile, and DS was so impress. Kids can make up all sorts of stuff, so you can always tell your kid that if Larlo said he got a 720 on his MAP-M, perhaps he is not so good with his numbers so take what kids say with a grain of salt.

My daughter played travel softball. She pitched to targets outside by herself in a net for hours. We never paid for coaches or forced her to do that. She went to practice just like everyone else did.

What the coach DIDN'T do was rate the kids on a score level in front of everyone. Which is basically what MAP does. Sure, some kids might not care, but many do.

If teachers are posting kids' scores on the board and ranking them for everyone else to see, that's definitely an issue and I would talk to the teacher ASAP. If kids happen to know their scores, and some choose to share then that's very different.

Did you miss the whole point of the comments earlier. The MAP score shows up on the screen. Kids that are finished sutvand wait. They all see it. You might as well put it up on the board. My kid knows at least half the class’s score. They are bored when they are done. This is what they do.

If your kid is staring at other children's screens after the test, maybe you should teach them to not do that. My kids share scores with a few other friends, but outside of that, they could care less who got what. Neither are they phase by others who have higher scores, as it should be.

This!
My child took MAPs a couple of weeks ago, came home and said: "Guess what, we took MAPs, today, I got 230 and Larla (her best friend) got 232 and there's a kid in Ms Smith's class who was coming up to everyone who would listen telling them he got 280." That was the extent of her knowledge of other students' scores. Yeah, friends talk, but, apart from that, teach your child to look at this own screen if someone's higher scores are so traumatizing to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our school, the practice is, when a student is done with his test, he raises his hand and walks over to the teacher to report his score. Because kids might finish at the same time, the scores remain on screens for everyone to see until the teacher calls each kid to her desk. In the process of recording each score, a teacher may inadvertently divulge other students' scores if the teacher and the student are viewing the teacher's screen. I don't think PP's child was snooping or behaving inappropriately.

If the kid says he saw a list, he was absolutely snooping. There is no list of MAP scores publicly posted in an ES Classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see no issues with sharing scores, if that is what the kids want. Kids share all sorts of achievements and it's about time kids can take some pride in their scores. Children who make it to elite travel soccer teams didn't get there by kicking around in their backyard. Their parents "enriched them". If kids got high MAP-M scores because they got enrichment, I'm okay with them taking pride in that too. (FWIW, it's much harder to do well on MAP-R than MAP-M)

Last week, DS told me a kid at his school ran a 2-minute mile, and DS was so impress. Kids can make up all sorts of stuff, so you can always tell your kid that if Larlo said he got a 720 on his MAP-M, perhaps he is not so good with his numbers so take what kids say with a grain of salt.

My daughter played travel softball. She pitched to targets outside by herself in a net for hours. We never paid for coaches or forced her to do that. She went to practice just like everyone else did.

What the coach DIDN'T do was rate the kids on a score level in front of everyone. Which is basically what MAP does. Sure, some kids might not care, but many do.

If teachers are posting kids' scores on the board and ranking them for everyone else to see, that's definitely an issue and I would talk to the teacher ASAP. If kids happen to know their scores, and some choose to share then that's very different.

Did you miss the whole point of the comments earlier. The MAP score shows up on the screen. Kids that are finished sutvand wait. They all see it. You might as well put it up on the board. My kid knows at least half the class’s score. They are bored when they are done. This is what they do.

If your kid is staring at other children's screens after the test, maybe you should teach them to not do that. My kids share scores with a few other friends, but outside of that, they could care less who got what. Neither are they phase by others who have higher scores, as it should be.

This!
My child took MAPs a couple of weeks ago, came home and said: "Guess what, we took MAPs, today, I got 230 and Larla (her best friend) got 232 and there's a kid in Ms Smith's class who was coming up to everyone who would listen telling them he got 280." That was the extent of her knowledge of other students' scores. Yeah, friends talk, but, apart from that, teach your child to look at this own screen if someone's higher scores are so traumatizing to him.

+1

If your kid wants to be nosy and check out other kids’ scores, whether by snooping around for a list or by looking at other kids’ screens, then he can deal with the knowledge that he gleans from that snooping.

Tell him to quit worrying about how other kids are doing and to focus on his own work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s definitely wrong to post their scores. DS said he saw the scores of all of his classmates and was by far the lowest and felt really badly. I applaud those students with high scores, they should be proud and should be celebrated for their achievement, but for the rest of us, could we have more privacy? As adults, we don’t advertise our salaries, let’s give our children the same courtesy.

Agree. It is embarrassing that MCPS does this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see no issues with sharing scores, if that is what the kids want. Kids share all sorts of achievements and it's about time kids can take some pride in their scores. Children who make it to elite travel soccer teams didn't get there by kicking around in their backyard. Their parents "enriched them". If kids got high MAP-M scores because they got enrichment, I'm okay with them taking pride in that too. (FWIW, it's much harder to do well on MAP-R than MAP-M)

Last week, DS told me a kid at his school ran a 2-minute mile, and DS was so impress. Kids can make up all sorts of stuff, so you can always tell your kid that if Larlo said he got a 720 on his MAP-M, perhaps he is not so good with his numbers so take what kids say with a grain of salt.

My daughter played travel softball. She pitched to targets outside by herself in a net for hours. We never paid for coaches or forced her to do that. She went to practice just like everyone else did.

What the coach DIDN'T do was rate the kids on a score level in front of everyone. Which is basically what MAP does. Sure, some kids might not care, but many do.

If teachers are posting kids' scores on the board and ranking them for everyone else to see, that's definitely an issue and I would talk to the teacher ASAP. If kids happen to know their scores, and some choose to share then that's very different.

Did you miss the whole point of the comments earlier. The MAP score shows up on the screen. Kids that are finished sutvand wait. They all see it. You might as well put it up on the board. My kid knows at least half the class’s score. They are bored when they are done. This is what they do.

If your kid is staring at other children's screens after the test, maybe you should teach them to not do that. My kids share scores with a few other friends, but outside of that, they could care less who got what. Neither are they phase by others who have higher scores, as it should be.

This!
My child took MAPs a couple of weeks ago, came home and said: "Guess what, we took MAPs, today, I got 230 and Larla (her best friend) got 232 and there's a kid in Ms Smith's class who was coming up to everyone who would listen telling them he got 280." That was the extent of her knowledge of other students' scores. Yeah, friends talk, but, apart from that, teach your child to look at this own screen if someone's higher scores are so traumatizing to him.

How about MCPS doesn't flash the score on the screen and just registers it and sends a sealed note home to the parents. Then no one will have to tell their 3rd graders to purposely not look at a screen or see a score by mistake and compare it to theirs. Or have kids coming up asking what everyone's scores are. Seems like a much easier solution.