MAP
Measures of Academic Performance

Students at EPS take the MAP test in the areas of Reading and Math.

When taking a MAP test, the difficulty of each question is based on how well a student answers all the previous questions.

Each Map test is developed according to a student’s present achievement level. This gives each student a fair opportunity to show what he or she knows and can do.

MAP tests are used to measure a student’s progress or growth in school. Just like you use a chart at home to measure your child’s height or how much your child has grown in a year.
Map assessments do the same sort of thing, except they measure your child’s growth in math and reading.

The scale used to measure your child’s progress on the MAP test is called the RIT
Scale. It is used to chart your child’s growth from year to year.

The following two charts show the average score a student in kindergarten, first grade, or second grade should make on the MAP test at the beginning of the school year, in the middle of the school year, and at the end of the school year in reading and in math.

Math
2011 Normative Data Reference
Beginning Middle of End of of year Year Year
Grade Mean Mean Mean
K 143.7 150.5 156.1
1 162.5 172.2 179.0
2 178.7 185.9 191.3

Reading
2011 Normative Data Reference
Beginning Middle of End of of Year Year Year
Grade Mean Mean Mean
K 142.5 150.6 155.1
1 160.0 170.1 176.1
2 175.9 183.4 189.2

MAP tests are important to teachers because they keep track of student progress and growth in basic skills. They let teachers know where a student’s strengths are and if help is needed in any specific areas. Teachers use this kind of information to help guide instruction in the classroom.

Information generated from the MAP test not only tells teachers if a student has weaknesses or strengths in math or reading , it also gives teachers a list of specific skills that a student needs to work on in order to increase academic performance.
The next few slides show examples of some of those specific skills.

Reading
RIT Band 161-170
Skills:
1.Identify compound words within a sentence.
2. Identify the contraction for a given word.
3. Find a sight word each time it appears in a three- to five- sentence paragraph.
4. Identify a homophone to complete a given sentence.

Reading
RIT Band 181-190
Skills:
1. Identify words that come from the same root or base word.
2. Name the root/base word found within a larger word.
3. Use knowledge of prefixes to choose the correct word based on context.

Math
RIT Band 161-170
Skills:
1. Count forwards by 2s.
2. Count forwards by 5s.
3. Understand the concept of one less than a number.
4. Compare numbers using the term “less than”.

Math
RIT Band 181-190
Skills:
1. Compare whole numbers through 999.
2. Identify the place value and value of each digit in whole numbers through the hundreds place.
3. Add 2-digit numbers with regrouping.

Each student is assigned a target score.
Students are encouraged to work hard to reach their target score by the time they finish taking the MAP test in the spring.

Each student who reaches his or her target score by the end of spring testing will be entered in a drawing for a girl’s or boy’s bicycle.

If you are not sure of your child’s target score, you can contact your child’s teacher and ask about his or her target score.

We would like to suggest some things that you can do at home to help your child improve his or her skills.

ELA Strategies for parents:
• Provide books and magazines to read at home.
• Encourage your child to write in a journal nightly.
• Make time to visit your local library.
• Play games like Scrabble, Spill and Spell,
Scattergories, and Balderdash together.
• After finishing a chapter in a book, have your child explain his or her favorite part.
• Work crossword puzzles together.

Math strategies for parents:
• Encourage your child to solve problems.
• Point out ways that people use mathematics everyday to pay bills, balance their check books, and make change.
• Find charts and graphs in the newspaper with your child and interpret them together.
• Spend time playing board games together that encourage stronger math skills such as Uno,
Sorry, Battleship, Clue, Connect Four, Jenga, and Rummikub.

If you need more information about MAP please contact Edisto Primary School or your child’s teacher.