Quantitative Evidence of Academic Growth

Introduction to MAP

My students participate in the Northwest Evaluation Association's (NWEA) Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) reading and math test three times a year. Our school takes the MAP test within the first two weeks of school to immediately assess to see what gaps students have coming in to the school year and to inform teaching practices and parent teacher conferences with quantitative data in order to set quarterly and year long goals. The MAP test is taken on the computer and the questions are read to students in kindergarten and first grade to ensure that reading skills and gaps do not hold students back from showing what they know. NWEA is an adaptive assessment, meaning the questions progressively get harder as students get more answers correct and progressively get easier if students get questions wrong. The data received from the NWEA test is used to place students in RTI groups based on skills and gaps to intervene early and help to close both reading and math gaps.

I started the 2019-2020 school year with 20 students in my classroom. About a month into the school year one of my students transferred to a different school. Additionally, half-way through the school year, I received three new students from another first grade class within our school building. I had not previously taught these students prior to take the mid-year MAP test. These three students data is only shown on the mid-year Winter class report and not the beginning of year class report.

One thing to note about the 2019-2020 school year is we never took the end of the year, Spring 2020 NWEA test due to COVID-19. Therefore, I am unable to include end of year data. Based on students growth from the Fall to Winter NWEA test, I am able to predict what I believe students would have scored had school continued and students had taken their end of year test.

Sample MAP Reading Questions

The pdf below outlines specific reading questions and similar questions students will find on the NWEA test. It also explicitly references the RIT band in relation to the question. The areas of reading and literacy that students are tested in are literature and informational, vocabulary use and functions, foundational skills and language and writing. Many of the skills that are tested throughout the NWEA test are skills that students are actively and continuously working on throughout the year during RTI, small group guided reading, phonics lessons and morning do nows. Knowing the specific questions that are asked throughout the NWEA test helps inform my teaching and knowledge around which standards, concepts and skills I should prioritize and might need to re-teach to ensure mastery and preparation for the NWEA reading test. Additionally, I send this detailed pdf home to parents and explain it to parents during our first parent teacher conference of the year. I want to make sure parents are informed of what types of questions students will be asked to answer on the NWEA test and what skills and concepts students will need to work on throughout the year.

ReadingRITOverviewSampleQuestions.pdf

Sample MAP Math Questions

The pdf below outlines specific math questions and similar questions students will find on the NWEA test. It also explicitly references the RIT band in relation to the question. The areas of mathematics that students are tested in are operations and algebraic thinking, numbers and operations, measurement and data and geometry. All the questions are read to the student to ensure that students reading ability and skill level does not affect their math score and knowledge. These questions directly align to first grade common core standards that are taught throughout the year. Knowing the specific questions that are asked throughout the NWEA test helps inform my teaching and knowledge around which standards I should prioritize and might need to re-teach to ensure mastery and preparation for the NWEA test. I incorporate similar types of questions for my students throughout our math class, in our warm ups and exit tickets, in order to allow students multiple at bats of practice prior to taking their winter or spring NWEA test. This helps students feel confident when taking the test. Additionally, I also send home this pdf to parents and explain it to parents during our first parent teacher conference of the year. I want to make sure parents are informed of what types of questions students will be asked to answer during the NWEA test.

MathRITOverviewSampleQuestions.pdf

MAP Scoring Chart

This chart, provided by the NWEA website, states exactly what NWEA believes students should score on the reading test to be considered on grade level. The RIT norm is a national score for all students entering first grade.
This chart, provided by the NWEA website, states exactly what NWEA believes students should score on the math test to be considered on grade level. The RIT norm is a national score for all students entering first grade.


Here you can see the median score first graders should reach when taking the MAP test in the Fall, Winter and Spring of the 2020-2021 school year. For reading, students should initially score around a 155.93 in the fall, to be considered on grade level. In the winter, students should score a 165.85 to be considered on grade level. In the spring, students should score a 171.40 to be considered prepared for second grade.

MAP Growth Norms

Here are the NWEA projected growth norms for students between the fall-to-winter test, winter-to-spring and overall growth from fall-to-spring. Since my class was unable to take the spring NWEA test due to COVID-19, I used the growth norms chart in relation to how much growth students exhibited between the fall-to-winter test to project their growth for the spring test. For example if a student grew twice the amount of expected growth from fall-to-winter, I projected the same student would make twice the amount of expected growth from winter-to-spring.

This chart, provided by the NWEA website, states exactly how many RIT points students should grow on their reading test throughout the year. Again, this is the national norm and not specific to students. The chart shows the most growth should occur between the fall and the winter test, approximately 10 points from fall to winter, and approximately 6 points of growth from the winter to spring test. In total, students should grow a total of 16 points from the beginning of the year, fall test, to the end of the year, winter test.
This chart, provided by the NWEA website, states exactly how many RIT points students should grow on their math test throughout the year. Again, this is the national norm and not specific to students. The chart shows the most growth should occur between the fall and the winter test, approximately 10 points from fall to winter, and slightly more than 6 points of growth from the winter to spring test. In total, students should grow a total of 16 points from the beginning of the year, fall test, to the end of the year, winter test.


Reading Data and Analysis

Below is my class report for both the initial fall 2019 reading test and the mid-year 2019 reading test. Due to COVID-19 there is no spring 2020 data. Instead I have projected the score for where I believe my students would fall according to their previous growth. The class report is broken into students overall performance on the test, which includes their RIT score, as well as goal areas that were tested and where students fell on these specific areas. The goal areas include questions on print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary acquisition, general reading, word and sentence composition and writing.

The class report also breaks down the number of students who fall into the low, low average, average, high average, and high groups based on test percentiles. This information helps me to break students into small groups to close gaps and teach specific concepts to students who have not yet shown mastery, as well as challenge students who are above grade level.

This is the fall 2019 reading data.

These are the beginning of year reading data for my 1st grade students. Early in the year the Mean RIT of tested students (157) was almost 4 points below the Norm Grade Level Mean RIT (160.7).

This is the winter 2019 reading data.

These are the middle of year reading data for my 1st grade students. Mid-year the Mean RIT of tested students (168.9) was 2.6 points below the Norm Grade Level Mean RIT (171.5). This had improved slightly from the beginning of the year when my first grade class scored 3.7 points, almost 4 points, below the Norm Grade Level Mean RIT. Although the growth looks small there are a few outliers within the data that effect the growth results. I had three students transfer into my class a few days prior to the mid-year, winter NWEA test, which may have been a drastic outlier to the overall growth data. These students scored substantially lower than most of the students in my class. If the three outliers had been removed from the data, the Mean RIT score for my class would have been 169.9, or 1.6 points below the Norm Grade Level Mean RIT. I project if the same trend continued from winter-to-spring, students growth would have been slightly greater, approximately .5 points, than the Norm Grade Level Mean RIT.

Fall2019ReadingStudentDataFINAL.pdf
These are the specific student data and RIT scores from the Fall 2019 reading MAP test.
Winter2019ReadingStudentDataFINAL.pdf
These are the specific student data and RIT scores from the Winter 2019 reading MAP test.


As shown above, Student 1 tested in the 51st percentile in reading. After 18 weeks of instruction Student 1 tested in the 82nd percentile. This shows a 31 point percentile shift upward within just the first half of the year.

In the Fall 2019 NWEA reading test, Student 2 tested in the 25th percentile, meaning 75% of students scored higher than Student 2. After 18 weeks of instruction Student 2 tested in the 51st percentile in reading. This shows a 26 point percentile shift upward within just the first half of the year. With continuous gains and growth, Student 2 would have tested approximately in the 77th percentile in reading by the end of the school year.

Student 3 tested in the 1st percentile in reading. Student 3 had the lowest score coming in to first grade. After 18 weeks of instruction, Student 3 tested in the 18th percentile. While this is still low in regards to first grade proficiency, he still showed immense growth, growing by 17 percentile points within the first half of the year.

Student 4 tested in the 36th percentile in reading at the beginning of the 2019 school year. After 18 weeks of instruction, Student 4 jumped incredibly to the 90th percentile, showing a 54 point percentile shift upward. In order to continue his stead progression upward, I challenged him with more challenging classwork and more rigorous readings to continue to increase his proficiency and mastery.

Math Data and Analysis

Below is my class report for both the initial fall 2019 math test and the mid-year 2019 math test. Due to COVID-19 there is no spring 2020 data. Instead I have projected the score for where I believe my students would fall according to their previous growth. The class report is broken into students overall performance on the test, which includes their RIT score, as well as goal areas that were tested and where students fell on these specific areas. The goal areas include questions on measurement and data, geometry, operations and algebraic thinking, and number and operations.

This is the fall 2019 math data.

These are the beginning of year math data for my 1st grade students. Early in the year the Mean RIT of tested students (159.8) was a little less than 3 points below the Norm Grade Level Mean RIT (162.4).

This is the winter 2019 math data.

These are the middle of year math data for my 1st grade students. Mid-year the Mean RIT of tested students (170.9) was a little less than 3 points below the Norm Grade Level Mean RIT (173.8). Although the growth looks small there are a few outliers within the data that effect the growth results. I had three students transfer into my class a few days prior to the mid-year, winter NWEA test, which may have been a drastic outlier to the overall growth data. These students scored substantially lower than most of the students in my class. If the three outliers had been removed from the data, the Mean RIT score for my class would have been 172.8, exactly 1 point below the Norm Grade Level Mean RIT.

Fall2019MathStudentDataFINALFINAL.pdf
These are the specific student data and RIT scores from the Fall 2019 math MAP test.
Winter2019MathStudentDataFINAL.pdf
These are the specific student data and RIT scores from the Winter 2019 math MAP test.

As shown above, Student 1 tested in the 34th percentile in math. After 18 weeks of instruction Student 1 tested in the 65th percentile. This shows a 31 point percentile shift upward within just the first half of the year.

Student 2 tested in the 13th percentile, meaning 87% of students scored higher than Student 2. After 18 weeks of instruction, Student 2 tested in the 41st percentile in math. This shows a 28 point percentile shift upward within just the first half of the year. With continuous gains and growth, Student 2 would have tested approximately in the 69th percentile in math by the end of the school year.

Student 3 had similar gains as Student 1, with slightly less progress, but still dramatic growth. Student 3 tested in the 34th percentile at the beginning of the year. After 18 weeks of instruction Student 3 tested in the 54th percentile in math. This shows a 20 point percentile shift upward within the first half of the year.

Student 4 had the most dramatic gains testing in the 19th percentile in math at the beginning of the year. 18 weeks into instruction Student 4 scored in the 76th percentile, showing 57 point percentile increase within the first half of the school year.

Examples of Dramatic Academic Growth

Here are four examples of dramatic academic growth in reading. These scores were taken from the NWEA website. The blue column indicates the students initial score on the NWEA reading test when first taken in the fall of 2019. The orange column is the projected score they should receive when they take the NWEA reading test again in the winter. The gray column is the actual score they received on the winter NWEA reading test and the yellow column is the projected score students would have received if they had been able to take the spring NWEA reading test. Since my class was unable to take the spring NWEA test due to COVID-19, I used the growth norms chart in relation to how much growth students exhibited between the fall-to-winter test to project their growth for the spring test. For example if a student grew twice the amount of expected growth from fall-to-winter, I projected the same student would make twice the amount of expected growth from winter-to-spring.

Here you can see four examples of where the student surpassed their projected score. Student 1's goal score for the winter reading test was a 172, based on previous growth, but Student 1's actual score was a 182. Student 2's goal score for the winter reading test was a 163, but Student 2's actual score was a 172. Student 3's goal score for the winter reading test was a 140, but Student 3's actual score was a 159. Student 4's goal score for the winter reading test was a 169, but Student 4's actual score was a 189. In all four instances, each student surpassed their projected goal score anywhere from 5 RIT points to 19 RIT points.

The expected growth norm in reading, based on MAP data, shows students should growth 10 RIT points between fall to winter. In all four of these examples, provided by specific student data, the students have surpassed the expected growth norm. Student 1 grew 21 RIT points between their fall and winter reading test. Student 2 grew 20 RIT points between their fall and winter reading test. Student 3 grew 32 RIT points and Student 4 grew 33 RIT points between their fall and winter reading test. All students exemplify dramatic academic growth in reading.

Here are four examples of dramatic academic growth in math. These scores were taken from the NWEA website. The blue column indicates the students initial score on the NWEA math test when first taken in the fall of 2019. The orange column is the projected score they should receive when they take the NWEA math test again in the winter. The gray column is the actual score they received on the winter NWEA math test and the yellow column is the projected score students would have received if they had been able to take the spring NWEA test. Since my class was unable to take the spring NWEA test due to COVID-19, I used the growth norms chart in relation to how much growth students exhibited between the fall-to-winter test to project their growth for the spring test. For example if a student grew twice the amount of expected growth from fall-to-winter, I projected the same student would make twice the amount of expected growth from winter-to-spring.

Here you can see four examples of where the student surpassed their projected score. Student 1's goal score for the winter math test was a 169, based on previous growth, but Student 1's actual score was a 179. This shows that Student 1 exceeded their goal score by 10 RIT points. Student 2's goal score for the winter math test was a 161, but Student 2's actual score for the winter math test was a 171. This shows that Student 2 exceeded their goal score by 10 RIT points. Student 3's goal score for the winter math test was 168, but Student 3's actual score for the winter math test was 175. This shows that Student 3 exceeded their goal score by 7 RIT points. Student 4's goal score for the winter math test was 163, but Student 4's actual score was a 183. This shows that Student 4 exceeded their goal score by 20 RIT points.

The expected growth norm in math, based on MAP data, shows students should growth 10.13 RIT points between fall to winter. In all four of these examples, provided by specific student data, the students have surpassed the expected growth norm. Student 1 grew 22 RIT points between their fall and winter math test. Student 2 grew 23 RIT points between their fall and winter math test. Student 3 grew 18 RIT points and Student 4 grew 32 RIT points between their fall and winter math test. Based on the data collected from the beginning of the year fall test to the middle of the year winter test, these four students exemplify dramatic academic growth in math.

Conclusion and Reflection

The NWEA test is only one measure of quantitative data that I use to instruct my teaching and inform my practices to help my students growth throughout the year. In addition the NWEA, I also use STEP data which helps to inform my guided reading and phonics lessons as well as progress monitoring data collected weekly through Aimsweb. All three of these quantitative measures help to inform my teaching to better address concepts and standards that students are struggling to master. I look at the data both vertically and horizontally within grade-level and within individual students. It helps for me to know how students progressed in their kindergarten year and compare it to trends I am seeing in first grade.

The NWEA data shows that 90% of my students showed overall growth in reading and 95% of students showed overall growth in math. Additionally, the data also shows that 37% of students met their end of year reading goal halfway through the year, when we took our winter assessment and 21% of students met their end of year math during our winter assessment. The growth trends are substantial and encouraging for student growth and when closing gaps. The most promising fact is both students below grade level and at grade level are showing significant growth. I believe this is due to specific planning on my part to recognize the specific gaps and areas of growth paired with increased differentiation of classwork and homework.

Lastly, as a teacher, I believe the fastest way to aid in student growth is to get them excited and invested in their own personal academic growth. This starts with building strong positive and trusting relationships with students and their families as well as informing all parties, both students and parents, of the progress that is being made.