Not the OP, but this was helpful. DS’s scores vary on MAPs from the 80s to 90s but MCAP was at 4. This being the first year I didn’t know what to make of it. Does the 3rd grade score matter for anything?

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s PARCC scores have always been all over the map. One year she’d get a 5 on the math (her weakest subject) and barely scrape a 3 on the reading (even though by every other measure she’s always 4 or 5 years above grade level). Then the next year, they’d be reversed, but this year both were 4s.

They very rarely reflected anything else her grades, teachers, or other standardized tests showed. After running through one of the practice tests with her one year, I realized why: it’s a seriously crappy test.

Exactly the same for DS. Agree with you.

My kid’s PARCC scores have always been all over the map. One year she’d get a 5 on the math (her weakest subject) and barely scrape a 3 on the reading (even though by every other measure she’s always 4 or 5 years above grade level). Then the next year, they’d be reversed, but this year both were 4s.

They very rarely reflected anything else her grades, teachers, or other standardized tests showed. After running through one of the practice tests with her one year, I realized why: it’s a seriously crappy test.

I think map over time is a pretty good reflection. Scores go up and down based on how the kid is feeling that day, though. Parcc was a really badly written test. If your kids did well on it, I think you can be confident they are doing well. If they did not do well on it, I think it’s hard to say what that means. It may have just been a bad test day for them, or it could be they had trouble parsing out some of the bizarrely worded questions. They are ditching that test now, so we can all move on from the question of what a bad Parcc score means.

OP don't worry. My kid was getting 90s for Map and then suddenly in 5th grade got 70s. Then he went back up into the 90s again for 6th and 7th.

A lot can play into it - including if they are unwell / becoming unwell / tired etc etc etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I received (snail) mailed PARCC scores for my 7th grader.
Not for 4th grader

Other than your kid reporting her MAP scores, how did you learn how she performed?

Oops MCAP was what came in mail.

MCAP and PARCC are the same thing (this year). Score comes in the mail. MAP shows up on the Parent Portal.

Anonymous wrote:I received (snail) mailed PARCC scores for my 7th grader.
Not for 4th grader

Other than your kid reporting her MAP scores, how did you learn how she performed?

Oops MCAP was what came in mail.

I received (snail) mailed PARCC scores for my 7th grader.
Not for 4th grader

Other than your kid reporting her MAP scores, how did you learn how she performed?

Anonymous wrote:They’re timed tests. Some kids used to have better results when MAP was more flexible with time limits. Kids have an hour now. Some kids get near the end of that timeframe and end up just having to select answers without reading the questions.

Those guidelines "suggesting" that the test only take about an hour came out last year from central office. As an administrator, most of us laughed at this suggestion. We know that some students need much longer than that to complete the tests. In fact, most schools are ignoring it and giving students the time they need to complete the test. It's true that the longer they take doesn't necessarily yield higher scores but it's ridiculous to only give students one hour to take a 42 or 52 item assessment. Kids need to have a score on the test. They cannot get a score unless they complete the test. If it were my own kids and I found out their teachers were rushing them to randomly guess I'd be up at that school in a minute.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think either really does.

Would like to hear more about this. I too have concerns about the tests. My 4th grader had lower scores than expected.

I wouldn't worry about it. The only impact we've seen is for compacted math. If they are in 4th, then its not an issue. My child's Map have gone down, significant up and stayed the same for the tests.

They’re timed tests. Some kids used to have better results when MAP was more flexible with time limits. Kids have an hour now. Some kids get near the end of that timeframe and end up just having to select answers without reading the questions.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think either really does.

Would like to hear more about this. I too have concerns about the tests. My 4th grader had lower scores than expected.

I don't think either really does.

Does anyone know what is a better assessment of a child’s true knowledge? DC always does well on the MAP tests and average on the PARC assessment.