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District Benchmark Assessment - NWEA

State law requires school districts to implement benchmark assessments for students in grades K-8.  These tests measure proficiency in reading and mathematics.  Okemos Public Schools use two assessment resources from NWEA, which is a not-for-profit and research-based organization: MAP Growth and MAP Reading Fluency.

About MAP Growth
MAP® Growth™ is NWEA’s flagship computer-adaptive assessment. It measures what students know and what they are ready to learn next. By dynamically adjusting to each student’s performance, MAP® Growth™ creates a personalized assessment experience that accurately measures performance – whether a student performs on, above or below grade level. Timely, easy-to-use reports help educators differentiate instruction to meet the academic needs of each student. MAP® Growth™ is also available in Spanish. To learn more about NWEA’s MAP® Growth™, visit: https://www.nwea.org/map-growth/

About MAP® Reading Fluency™
It’s the first computer adaptive, automatically scored pre-K–5 universal screening and progress monitoring assessment that eliminates the need for one-on-one, teacher-student administration. The innovative assessment of oral reading fluency, comprehension, and foundational reading skills is delivered online, enabling educators to assess an entire class in a short time. Teachers receive immediate objective results, actionable data, and instructional guidance to support individualized reading development for every student. MAP Reading Fluency is available for remote and on-site administration, and efficiently assesses in English and Spanish.

To learn more about NWEA’s MAP® Reading Fluency™ visit: https://www.nwea.org/map-reading-fluency/

Parent/Guardian Information

NWEA MAP Growth assessments are unique, and it adapts to your student’s responses to measure your student’s skill level. If your student answers a question correctly, the next question is more challenging. If they answer incorrectly, the next one is easier. These results will provide a more complete picture of what your student knows and is ready to learn—whether it is on, above, or below their grade level. This is much different than an assessment used to determine “mastery”.  Students will NOT be able to answer all of the questions correctly. In fact, because the NWEA MAP Growth assessments are adaptive, it will only be possible to answer 50% of the questions correctly by design.

MAP Growth Reading and MAP Growth Math assessments provide immediate and accurate information about your student’s learning, allowing teachers to identify students with similar scores that are generally ready for instruction in similar skills and topics, and then plan instruction accordingly. This data, along with classroom assessment data, is also utilized during building data meetings to ensure all students are receiving instructional support for their needs.

Illustration of MAP Growth question adjustments based on student performance

 

Chart illustrates how MAP Growth begins with a question at each student

It is important to remember that these assessments are just one piece of data that is used to plan for your student’s learning. The purpose of these interim assessments is to identify each student’s instructional level, not to measure a student’s grade level proficiency. These assessments, along with classroom data, are used by educators during building data meetings to review trends and patterns, as well as identify individual student strengths and areas for focus. 

After the district testing window closes, parents/guardians will receive a Family Report that provides both achievement percentiles and growth percentiles data. These percentiles are based on national norms.

SAMPLE Family Report

 

Sample NWEA Family Report

 

Thank you for your continued partnership in your student’s education. For more information on NWEA, please visit the Family Toolkit and Family Guide to MAP Growth.