Report to the School Board

Transcription

1 Report to the School Board 2012 Measures of Academic Performance (MAP) Results Zhining Chin, Ph.D. and Diane Schimelpfenig, Ed.D. Overview In April of 2012 students in grades 3-6 were administered the Measures of Academic Progress assessments as a means of calculating student growth in Reading and Math over time. A total of 468 students in grade 3,495 students in grade 4,483 students in grade 5 and 483 students in grade 6 took the MAP test in both Fall and Spring of the school year. This report provides both student growth status results, as well as Fall 2012 results for grades 3-6. Primary Issues to Consider Student Reading and Math MAP Growth Fall 2012 MAP Testing Results MAP Results Uses Supporting Documents The full report begins on the next page. Figures 1-3 Excellence. Every School. Every Student. Every Day.

2 2 Report to the School Board 2012 Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Results Introduction In April of 2012 students in grades 3-6 were administered the Measures of Academic Progress assessments as a means of calculating student growth in Reading and Math over time. A total of 468 students in grade 3,495 students in grade 4,483 students in grade 5 and 483 students in grade 6 took the MAP test in both Fall and Spring of the school year. Students again took the MAP tests in the fall of Since 2004, the Hopkins district has administered MAP assessments to these grade levels in the fall of each year. The purpose of administering these tests early in the school year is to provide teachers with the most current information possible about student learning status. The data provided to teachers through MAP assessments, along with other classroom and school level information, will help teachers make sound and effective decisions about student instruction. MAP test results are an important reference point for classroom teachers and support staff. In order to provide the most complete picture possible of student learning and growth, our teachers use Common Formative Assessments (CFA) such as leveled Reading assessments, trimester Math assessments, and curriculum-based assessments, along with MAP tests and MCA results to inform their work in Professional Learning Communities and as classroom instructors. MAP Testing Background Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments are statealigned computerized adaptive tests that accurately reflect the instructional level of each student; these tests also measure student growth over time. MAP tests provide highly accurate results whose purposes include providing information to teachers in order to enhance their ability to: * Identify the skills and concepts individual students have learned. * Diagnose instructional needs. * Monitor academic growth over time. Excellence. Every School. Every Student. Every Day.

3 Report to the School Board 3 * Make data-driven decisions at the classroom, school, and District * Place new students into appropriate instructional programs. Test items dynamically adjust to a student's performance level, and as a result, test scores are more accurate. The assessment itself is unique in that it adapts to the student's ability, accurately measuring what a child knows and needs to learn. In addition, MAP tests measure academic growth over time, independent of grade level or age. Most importantly, the results educators receive have practical application to teaching and learning. The assessment plan in our District directs us to use a nationally norm referenced test to compare the performance of Hopkins students with the national performance of similar student groups. We have selected the MAP assessments as our tool for that purpose, and the eighth year of full district administration now provides us with comparative data from one year to another. One of the benefits of the MAP tests is that growth norms are generated along with the test results; this information provides us with a comparison of the growth of Hopkins students with the growth of other students in the same grade levels across the nation. MAP tests provide this growth information for each student based on the RIT score. RIT stands for Rasch UnIT, which is a measurement scale developed to simplify the interpretation of test scores. The RIT score relates directly to the curriculum scale in each subject area. It is an equal-interval scale, like feet and inches, so scores can be added together to calculate accurate class or school averages. RIT scores are independent of grade level, and measure a student s growth over time. RIT scores range from about 150 to 300. Students typically start at the 150 to 190 levels in the third grade and progress to the 240 to 300 levels by high school. RIT scores make it possible to follow a student s educational growth from year to year. New national norm data was released last year by NWEA; usually a national norm will be used for 6-7 years before the next new norms are released. Excellence. Every School. Every Student. Every Day

4 4 Report to the School Board Growth Status for MAP Fall to Spring tests (Figures 1 and 2) One of the benefits from MAP tests is that a growth target for each student is provided by NWEA, the testing vendor, based on the student s Fall MAP score. The growth target is an estimate of typical student progress between two testing periods defined by the NWEA testing company. The growth norm is created based on the overall population who took the MAP test during the past 6 years. Student growth scores may be calculated immediately following the Spring MAP administration in May. In Figures 1 and 2, three years of growth status is presented for Reading and Math for each grade level tested. It is encouraging to note that at least 10% more Hopkins students met their growth target, as compared with the national norm of 50% meeting growth targets, in Reading. In Math, in grades 3 to 5, over 70% of students made their Math growth target. In comparing growth results over two years of MAP testing, more students met their Reading growth target in grades 3,4, and 6 in 2012 than in Grade 5 results showed a decrease in students meeting their growth targets. In Math, more grade 3, 4 and 6 students met their growth targets in 2012 than in 2011, by an increase of 5-6%. Grade 5 students again showed a decrease in students meeting their growth target. We are conducting a deeper analysis of the factors that may have contributed to this decline. 2. MAP Fall 2012 Test Results (Figure 3) NWEA released a new national norms for use in MAP testing in Based on the new norms, 2012 student performance will be measured based on a slightly different scale than in Beginning in 2011, the Fall MAP test data has served as a baseline for comparison for future years. Excellence. Every School. Every Student. Every Day.

5 Report to the School Board 2012 Overall MAP Fall Reading and Math Performance 5 One of the purposes highlighted by the School Board for Hopkins student MAP test participation is to compare our student performance with national testing results. Figure three compares Hopkins student results with a typical national score range, reflecting 25% in each of four quartiles. National norms for each quartile is 25% equally divided; Quartile 1 would range from %, Quartile 2 from %, Quartile 3 from % and Quartile 4 from %. Hopkins Math results demonstrate that more than 65% of students performed in quartiles 3 and 4. Results for 2012 show that 37% of Hopkins students are perform at the top quartile, which is 3% more than in Reading results showed an improvement, as well. Board Academic Milestone: Grade 3 Reading Proficiency and Growth One of the Academic Milestones approved by the School Board measures grade 3 student proficiency and growth in Reading. This is the first year in which the Grade 3 Reading Academic Milestone is used. Academic Milestone data includes the following: Grade 3 Reading Growth results indicate that 67.2% of Grade 3 students met their growth target in Reading, as compared with the national norm of 50%. MAP test proficiency is calculated using a grade level median as the proficiency indicator. In Grade 3 Reading, 60% of students met or exceeded the grade level median. This will serve as our baseline for future comparisons. Implications and Conclusions MAP testing results are useful to our work as educational professionals on many levels. At the classroom level, these results give teachers important information about individual student understanding and achievement in specific areas of reading and mathematics. This information provides a basis for the development of school-based interventions and support, as well as important conversations with families as they work with their child. MAP Excellence. Every School. Every Student. Every Day

6 6 Report to the School Board information is downloaded into the Cognos system, and is accessible by teachers on a daily basis. At the school level, administrators and teacher teams can examine the learning results for specific grade levels and groups of students, using this information to reflect on how instruction is delivered and reinforced. It also provides specific information on which to set school-wide achievement goals. Professional Learning Communities (PLC s) are able to sort MAP data within their classrooms and grade level for a more detailed analysis of which students are showing growth, and those that are in need of further support. We are now able to use MAP data to project which students may be at risk of not meeting proficiency targets on the MCAII tests. This provides teachers and principals with greater clarity of focus for some instructional and programming resources. Professional development can be developed to support the deeper analysis and use of student test data to inform instruction. Curriculum coordinators use information on student performance within specific instructional strands to review and strengthen curriculum materials and delivery in order to improve student learning. MAP tests are an important component of our elementary Response to Intervention program, providing a data element to consider in our instructional grouping of students. We have expanded our use of MAP testing to all students in grades 7, 8, and 9. We look forward to considering the growth of those junior high students in our MAP report. As we continue our use and deepening analysis of MAP testing, we believe we will be able to help students, families, and teachers more clearly identify areas in which to celebrate, and those that require additional attention. Excellence. Every School. Every Student. Every Day.

7 Figure 1. Hopkins MAP Reading Fall to Spring Growth Status % is the National Average Perce ent of Students grade 3 grade 4 grade 5 grade 6

8 Figure 2. Hopkins MAP Math Fall to Spring Growth Status Math 2010 Math 2011 Math % is the National Average Percent of Students ts grade 3 grade 4 grade 5 grade 6

9 Figure 3. MAP Fall Testing Quartile Scores 1st Quartile 2nd Quartile 3rd Quartile 4th Quartile Rdg % 18.1% 28.0% 33.4% Rdg % 18.4% 26.7% 33.0% Math % 17.6% 28.0% 37.0% Math % 18.1% 27.6% 33.9% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%