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Testing, testing: About MAP Growth
October 6, 2021
Adam Hancock, Lower School Head, explains the “why” of Aspen Country Day School’s MAP Growth assessment program
How do we measure student progress? Typical standardized testing measures a child’s performance on one test on one day, but it doesn’t show how a student is growing as a learner.
In 2021, Aspen Country Day School switched away from its previous testing instrument, the ERB, and began using the MAP Growth program. MAP stands for Measures of Academic Progress. This adaptive, formative assessment provides ACDS teachers with a continuum of data richer than any we had previously. Each student in First Grade through Seventh Grade takes a series of MAP Growth assessments three times each year: fall, winter, and spring. The tests are taken on Chromebooks or iPads, with no specific time dedicated to “test prep” in advance.
This type of assessment, in teacher-speak, is called formative assessment. Formative differs from summative in that it is not a graded effort. The MAP Growth tests do not reflect mastery or lack thereof, but rather they illuminate particular areas of strength and challenge. Formative assessment enables teachers to recognize each student as an individual learner on a distinctive journey.
This assessment is nationally normed with test reports from more than 10 million students. The comparative data can be benchmarked vis a vis other independent schools and will provide interesting insights into the effectiveness of our academic program. In addition to the large-scale data trends, the individual information gleaned from the MAP Growth assessment guides our teachers as they seek to best meet each child’s learning needs. This powerful tool helps make learning at ACDS even more personal for each child.
Who? All students in Kindergarten to Seventh Grade
What? MAP Growth testing in reading and math in Kindergarten to Fifth Grades; Middle School MAP Growth testing includes reading, math, and language usage.
When? Our initial round of assessments is happening now, in the first two weeks of October. We will test again in the winter, and then again in the spring. In this way we will have a measure of academic growth for each child over the course of a full academic year.
Basics: All tests are taken on a computer — Chromebooks or iPads. Kindergarters to Second Graders take tests that last 40 minutes, administered in two 20-minute sessions. Third to Seventh Graders spend about 45 to 60 minutes per session.
How did my child do? MAP Growth gives teachers insights into the growth of their students over the course of an academic year. Once we have a full year of data points for each learner (fall, winter, and spring assessments), we will be positioned to communicate with parents about how students have grown in their academic pursuits this year.
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