In a few weeks, your child will be participating in the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) Assessments. The purpose of this section is to provide you with information about the assessments, and to inform you of the testing schedule.
Attendance is critical - Please make every attempt to ensure that your child is present during anticipated testing times/dates and that he/she is prepared for testing. We will be testing both mornings and afternoons this year. If you know in advance that a conflict cannot be avoided, please contact the guidance office as soon as possible.
Per our school policy cell phones should remain in student lockers. If students have any other device (smart watch, earbuds, etc.) that has the capability to connect to wifi it cannot be on the student's person while testing. These items should remain at home or in the student’s locker.
We are also requesting that each student bring his/her own earphone/headphones to use during testing as there will be a component in which text-to-speech is used. If your student is unable to provide earphones/headphones, you will need to let the school know in advance of testing so that we can reserve a set for him/her.
The Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) Grade-Level Assessments evaluate students’ progress toward the Missouri Learning Standards. The MAP Grade-Level Assessments include assessments in the subject areas of English language arts (grades 3-8), mathematics (grades 3-8), and science (grades 5 and 8). MAP Grade-Level Assessments provide important information that contributes to decisions concerning individual students, groups of students, and educational programs.
The MAP Grade-Level Assessments are administered online. Online assessments offer unique ways of assessing content and standards that are difficult to assess using paper-and-pencil tests. For example, listening can be assessed easily in an online assessment using a text-to-speech feature that allows students to listen to a passage and replay it as many times as they wish before responding to an associated set of questions. Additionally, online assessment allows for supports and accommodations that effectively meet a wide range of student needs. For example, a student has the ability to use a magnification feature within the system to enlarge an item. Another advantage of online assessments is that districts will receive student scores more quickly than in the past.
The MAP Grade-Level Assessments include multiple types of questions or items:
Technology Enhanced items make use of technology in the presentation of the item, the ways in which students respond, or both. For example, students might watch a video and then drag and drop labels into a diagram, or click on specific parts of a text to provide a response.
You can preview the MAP Grade-Level Assessment administration system and the item types included on each assessment by reviewing the practice tests and tutorials that are available in the Missouri Assessment Program portal, called eDIRECT. Parents can access practice tests and tutorials by going to the MAP Grade-Level Assessment website (http://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/assessment/grade-level) and clicking on Grade-Level Online Tools Training in the "Quick Links" box. No login or password is necessary to review practice tests or tutorials.
After testing, your child will receive an Individual Student Report that will give you information about his or her achievement in terms of the content and skills assessed by the MAP Grade-Level Assessment at his or her grade level. Your child's Individual Student Report will include an Achievement Level, which will describe his or her performance for the grade level and content area as Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, or Advanced. The report will also include a short description of the knowledge and skills that are typically demonstrated by students in each Achievement Level for that grade level and content area. These reports will be mailed home in early fall.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) publishes a Guide to Interpreting Results (GIR) that provides additional detail about the content of the Individual Student Reports. Find this at http://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/assessment/grade-level.
Tips to make sure your student is ready to test:
Prioritize bedtime. Make sure they get a good night's sleep several days leading up to testing.
Make sure they have a nutritious breakfast.
Maintain a positive attitude. Model a calm, upbeat attitude about the testing process.
It is important that our students perform to the best of their ability, but it is even more important that they realize their scores do not define who they are.
