Teachers -sincere question about MAP testing

[Anonymous]

My 4th grader gets A's and B's on her report card. According to her teacher, her instructional level for DRA is 50.

So, I sat with her today during her MAP Reading test. The questions were REALLY REALLY hard. As in, I had difficulty knowing which was the correct answer on many of the questions. She was also asked the definitions of words she has not been taught like "aliteration" and "asides."

I don't think there was a single question she knew with confidence and many were just completely and totally overwhelming to her and she cried through much of the test. She was one of the absolute last ones to finish. Her conclusion is that she is stupid and everyone else in the class is smarter than her.

What should I think about all of this, and what (if any) action should I take wrt letting the school/teacher know how it went?

[Anonymous]

OP, read this about MAP tests and see if it fits your child's experience. I think it's always worth reaching out to the teacher to share your concerns.

https://www.testingmom.com/tests/nwea-map-test/

"If your child correctly answers a question, the computer assessment provides a harder question next. If they miss that same question, then an easier question is asked. This provides essential information about what your child knows and is ready to learn."

[Anonymous]

How about asking her teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about asking her teacher?

I did email the teacher, we'll see what she says. I was just curious if any others had this experience with MAP testing where a "good" student understood so little of the test. It seems to me either the test is way too advanced for the grade or my DD's grades in school are not accurately assessing what she is learning. Either way, its a problem.

[Anonymous]

Or the map test is designed to make everyone feel like a failure by progressively asking more difficult questions until absolutely everyone can't answer them correctly.

[Anonymous]

Did she use skips? I believe you get a certain number of skips which tells the test to dial down the difficulty level of the questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about asking her teacher?

I did email the teacher, we'll see what she says. I was just curious if any others had this experience with MAP testing where a "good" student understood so little of the test. It seems to me either the test is way too advanced for the grade or my DD's grades in school are not accurately assessing what she is learning. Either way, its a problem.

Don’t conflate grades with norms- referenced tests. They really aren’t the same . Grades are mostly a measure of compliance tbh.

[Anonymous]

Exactly PP. Come to school every day, do your work, don't cause issues and you too can get good grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Exactly PP. Come to school every day, do your work, don't cause issues and you too can get good grades.

OP here. No need to be rude. If my daughter is struggling, I’d like to help her. I’m trying to bury my head in the sand. Just trying to gauge how seriously I should take this taste that our county didn’t even use 3 years ago.

[Anonymous]

^NOT trying to bury my head in the sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exactly PP. Come to school every day, do your work, don't cause issues and you too can get good grades.

OP here. No need to be rude. If my daughter is struggling, I’d like to help her. I’m trying to bury my head in the sand. Just trying to gauge how seriously I should take this taste that our county didn’t even use 3 years ago.

On an adaptive test, the fact that the questions were hard, and weren't things that were taught is probably a sign that she answered the questions that targeted what has been taught, or that kids her age typically know, easily. It's likely that what happened is that she was doing well and it bumped her up to a higher level.

If her MAP scores are really out of line with his performance in class, I'd ask for more information, but the fact that hte questions looked hard to you is a good sign.

I will say that the fact that she got so overwhelmed by the test, might be an indication that it was explained to her poorly, or it might be an indication that she struggles with perseverance and self regulation.

[Anonymous]

Yes - we spend a lot of time before hand explaining how the test works and how the questions will get harder and harder and you are not supposed to know all the answers. Really you shouldn't be sitting next to her watching her do the test, although as a parent myself I get the desire to do so. I would just work on lowering the stress and saying it is just trying to find out what she knows so teachers can start working there.

[Anonymous]

OP, relax until you get the score. Your DD probably did so well on the test that she was getting 6th grade level questions. The scores will reflect that. If the test started out hard, it probably used her score from the last testing as a starting point.

Every kid will reach a point where they don't know most of the material being asked. Adaptive tests are designed that way. Your kid's final assessed level will be the point at which she knows about half of what they're asking.

[Anonymous]

OP, I snuck a few peeks at my child's screen a couple times during the test and saw the same thing. The questions were asking about Greek root words and such. On the math test, it was asking about finding the mean. DC is in third grade and tends to do well on these tests. Before the test, I just say to do your best, and if the questions get too hard, it's because you're doing really well. I tell DC to take a best guess and move on, if the question is too tough. It's better your daughter took her time. If she was in tears, though, maybe next time she should just stop and take a break. It's untimed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or the map test is designed to make everyone feel like a failure by progressively asking more difficult questions until absolutely everyone can't answer them correctly.

Exactly this. It may provide good data (MAY idk) but it’s a horrible test from an emotional perspective.