A Comparison of Proficiency Classifications for UNI Freshmen, Fall 2009
With ETS MAPP Comparative Data, January 2003 Through July 2007
What These Tables Contain
The tables in this document contain a comparison of the performance of the sample of UNI freshmen
taking the MAPP test (Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress) in Fall 2009 with MAPP data
collected by Educational Testing Service (ETS) from MAPP tests taken by freshmen at Master’s
(Comprehensive) Colleges and Universities I and II across the United States from January 2003
through July 2007 (http://www.ets.org/proficiencyprofile/scores/compare_data/). Green font indicates
areas for which the percentage of UNI students classified as proficient is above the percentage for the
comparison group. Red font indicates areas for which the percentage of students classified as not
proficient is higher than the percentage for the comparison group.
Three hundred ninety-eight (398) entering freshmen at UNI and one hundred forty (140) UNI
freshmen with fewer than 30 hours of credit completed took the MAPP test in Spring date. For details
on the test administration, see https://www.uni.edu/assessment/data/mappdata.shtml (CAT ID
required).
What the Proficiency Levels Mean in Terms of Skills
Descriptions of the proficiency levels for reading/critical thinking, writing, and mathematics as defined
by ETS follow the tables of proficiency data. Students are classified as proficient, marginal, or not
proficient. A student classified as marginal is one whose test results do not provide enough evidence
to classify a student either as proficient or not proficient (MAPP User’s Guide,
http://www.ets.org/s/proficiencyprofile/pdf/Users_Guide.pdf, pp. 9-13).
Some Questions for Discussions Related to These MAPP Results
ƒ
What proficiency levels are required for assignments in my courses? How do UNI students’
proficiency levels compare with the levels required for success in my assignments?
ƒ
What assignments and content in my courses develop proficiencies at the varying levels?
ƒ
How do UNI student proficiencies as reported in this document compare with the levels of
competencies we would have expected? What was surprising, confirming, intriguing?
ƒ
What other measures do we have of students’ attainments in these skills? How do the data from
the various measures compare?
ƒ
What levels of the proficiencies would we like UNI students to attain? What kinds of changes
would be needed to increase proficiencies to these levels?
ƒ
How are the skills measured by MAPP used and/or developed in the Liberal Arts Core? How are
they used and/or developed in major courses?
ƒ
Which of the skills measured by MAPP are used and/or developed in activities outside of the
classroom—e.g., in student organizations, community volunteering, residence hall living, etc?
Fall 2009 UNI Freshmen (Fewer Than 30 Hours Completed)
Fall 2009 UNI Entering Freshmen (No Hours Completed)
Skill
Dimension
Comparisons
Proficiency Classifications
Proficient Marginal
Not
Proficient
Skill
Dimension
Comparisons
Proficiency Classifications
Proficient Marginal
Not
Proficient
Reading,
Level 1
UNI
ETS
60%
52%
20%
25%
21%
23%
Reading,
Level 1
UNI
ETS
61%
56%
26%
23%
13%
21%
Reading,
Level 2
UNI
ETS
24%
22%
24%
19%
52%
59%
Reading,
Level 2
UNI
ETS
34%
25%
19%
20%
47%
56%
Critical
Thinking
UNI
ETS
4%
2%
13%
8%
84%
90%
Critical
Thinking
UNI
ETS
6%
3%
19%
9%
74%
88%
Writing,
Level 1
UNI
ETS
62%
55%
29%
29%
9%
15%
Writing,
Level 1
UNI
ETS
58%
58%
32%
27%
10%
15%
Writing,
Level 2
UNI
ETS
12%
12%
41%
33%
47%
55%
Writing,
Level 2
UNI
ETS
19%
13%
29%
34%
52%
53%
Writing,
Level 3
UNI
ETS
4%
5%
20%
21%
76%
75%
Writing,
Level 3
UNI
ETS
2%
5%
34%
22%
65%
72%
Mathematics,
Level 1
UNI
ETS
47%
47%
31%
29%
22%
24%
Mathematics,
Level 1
UNI
ETS
53%
48%
29%
28%
18%
24%
Mathematics,
Level 2
UNI
ETS
19%
20%
27%
27%
53%
53%
Mathematics,
Level 2
UNI
ETS
26%
21%
27%
28%
47%
51%
Mathematics,
Level 3
UNI
ETS
4%
4%
12%
12%
84%
84%
Mathematics,
Level 3
UNI
ETS
3%
4%
15%
13%
82%
83%
.
MAPP Proficiency Classifications
Retrieved July 2, 2010 from http://www.ets.org/proficiencyprofile/about/content/
The MAPP test provides specific information needed to identify areas of strength and weakness in
curricula and teaching methods. These criterion-referenced scores have meaning in and of
themselves. Such scores are defined in terms of an established level of performance or proficiency,
and a student either achieves or does not achieve each criterion or level. Proficiency classifications
reveal what degree of proficiency (Proficient, Marginal or Not Proficient) students demonstrate at
three different levels of difficulty in each skill area:
Reading/Critical Thinking
Level I
Students who are proficient can:
•
recognize factual material explicitly presented in a reading passage
•
understand the meaning of particular words or phrases in the context of a reading
passage
Level II
Students who are proficient can:
•
synthesize material from different sections of a passage
•
recognize valid inferences derived from material in the passage
•
identify accurate summaries of a passage or of significant sections of the passage
•
understand and interpret figurative language
•
discern the main idea, purpose or focus of a passage or a significant portion of the
passage
Level III
Students who are proficient can:
•
evaluate competing causal explanations
•
evaluate hypotheses for consistency with known facts
•
determine the relevance of information for evaluating an argument or conclusion
•
determine whether an artistic interpretation is supported by evidence contained in a
work
•
recognize the salient features or themes in a work of art
•
evaluate the appropriateness of procedures for investigating a question of causation
•
evaluate data for consistency with known facts, hypotheses or methods
•
recognize flaws and inconsistencies in an argument
Writing Skills
Level I
Students who are proficient can:
•
recognize agreement among basic grammatical elements (e.g., nouns, verbs, pronouns
and conjunctions)
•
recognize appropriate transition words
•
recognize incorrect word choice
•
order sentences in a paragraph
•
order elements in an outline
Level II
Students who are proficient can:
•
incorporate new material into a passage
•
recognize agreement among basic grammatical elements (e.g., nouns, verbs, pronouns
and conjunctions) when these elements are complicated by intervening words or
phrases
•
combine simple clauses into single, more complex combinations
•
recast existing sentences into new syntactic combinations
Level III
Students who are proficient can:
•
discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate use of parallelism
•
discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate use of idiomatic language
•
recognize redundancy
•
discriminate between correct and incorrect constructions
•
recognize the most effective revision of a sentence
Mathematics
Level I
Students who are proficient can:
•
solve word problems that would most likely be solved by arithmetic and do not involve
conversion of units or proportionality. These problems can be multi-step if the steps are
repeated rather than embedded.
•
solve problems involving the informal properties of numbers and operations, often
involving the Number Line, including positive and negative numbers, whole numbers
and fractions (including conversions of common fractions to percent, such as converting
"1/4" to 25%)
•
solve problems requiring a general understanding of square roots and the squares of
numbers
•
solve a simple equation or substitute numbers into an algebraic expression
•
find information from a graph. This task may involve finding a specified piece of
information in a graph that also contains other information.
Level II
Students who are proficient can:
•
solve arithmetic problems with some complications, such as complex wording,
maximizing or minimizing, and embedded ratios. These problems include algebra
problems that can be solved by arithmetic (the answer choices are numeric).
•
simplify algebraic expressions, perform basic translations, and draw conclusions from
algebraic equations and inequalities. These tasks are more complicated than solving a
simple equation, though they may be approached arithmetically by substituting numbers.
•
interpret a trend represented in a graph, or choose a graph that reflects a trend
•
solve problems involving sets; problems have numeric answer choices
Level III
Students who are proficient can:
•
solve word problems that would be unlikely to be solved by arithmetic; the answer
choices are either algebraic expressions or numbers that do not lend themselves to
back-solving
•
solve problems involving difficult arithmetic concepts, such as exponents and roots other
than squares and square roots, and percent of increase or decrease
•
generalize about numbers (e.g., identify the values of (x) for which an expression
increases as (x) increases)
•
solve problems requiring an understanding of the properties of integers, rational
numbers, etc.
•
interpret a graph in which the trends are to be expressed algebraically or one of the
following is involved: exponents and roots other than squares and square roots, percent
of increase or decrease
•
solve problems requiring insight or logical reasoning