Reply to 5th graders taking 6th grade map m

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think a lot of you are making a big deal out of nothing.  The percentiles for the Map 2-5 and 6+ are based on the RIT score.  The RIT is supposed to show growth, the tests have overlap, one just goes lower and the other extends higher.

Here is how NWEA defines the RIT score:

What are the characteristics of the RIT scales?

These RIT scales are stable, equal interval scales that use individual item difficulty values to measure student achievement independent of grade level (that is, across grades). "Equal interval" means that the difference between scores is the same regardless of whether a student is at the top, bottom, or middle of the RIT scale. "Stable" means that the scores on the same scale from different students, or from the same students at different times, can be directly compared, even though different sets of test items are administered. A RIT score also has the same meaning regardless of the grade or age of the student.

In summary, the RIT scale is:
An achievement scale
Accurate
Equal interval
Useful for measuring growth over time
The same regardless of the grade or age of the student

source:  https://connection.nwea.org/s/article/What-is-the-RIT-scale?language=en_US#:~:text=A%20RIT%20score%20measures%20a,calibrated%20at%20that%20RIT%20level.

[/quote]

I think you are being dismissive of reasonable critiques.  MAP is a pretty good test when used as intended -- evaluation of school/system efficacy across large populations and multiple longitudinal data points (where stochastic analysis is more valid), and as a [i]guide[/i] for individual teaching plans [i]when considered with other student-specific factors[/i].  (Those don't have to be other test scores, but might include close teacher observation, etc.)

MAP has too much uncertainty, certainly with any single-test data point, to play a gate-keeping role for enriched and accelerated programs, given the aims of those programs to meet need, which is as much ability-related (MAP doesn't test for that) as it might be achievement-related (MAP generally tests for this, which is highly correlated to exposure, which not all highly-able students may have).  If used in a robust heuristic with other standardized tests and across multiple data points, it may well [i]help[/i] to identify readiness/need, but MCPS simply doesn't use it the right way.

The individual variability issues with the shift to the 6+ test have been well noted.  It's very poor judgement for MCPS to have that differential introduced for some, but not others, at the exact point that they use scores under their current paradigm to place students in next year's criteria-based magnet lottery (which also serves as the guarantee of more advanced local placement).

Borrowing from your post, in summary, the RIT scale is:

An achievement scale (sure, but that isn't the whole point)
Accurate (across larger data sets, but not necessarily on an individual basis, especially at a single point in time)
Equal interval (yes)
Useful for measuring growth over time (across multiple data points and with other student-specific observations, given the uncertainty inherent in the single-point-in-time score for an individual student)
The same regardless of the grade or age of the student (again, with reasonable certainty on average across larger data sets, but without that certainty for individuals at single points, and with greater individual uncertainty with a shift from the elementary version to the 6+ version)[/quote]

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