MAP tests are designed to measure a student's academic readiness and academic growth over time, thus they do not require preparation or studying. Parents can assist their child by ensuring they are present for testing and reminding them that the test is used for instructional planning and is not high stakes.

Parents may also wish to speak with their child about the functionality of the test. MAP is adaptive; it adjusts in difficulty based on a student’s pattern of answers. Some questions might be easy, and some questions might be difficult depending on the student's previous answers. MAP also adjusts across grade levels, allowing students to work below and/or above their current instructional standards. This adaptive design allows students of varying skill to meaningfully engage in the test and to be challenged at all levels of content knowledge. Students should try their best on each question but recognize they will always see questions with new material they haven’t learned before. Students who test well may feel frustrated by the number of items presented that are new or difficult for them to answer. It is accepted and expected that students will have to guess on some items. The adaptive design of the MAP test is how the test will identify what content students know, and what content they need to learn next.

In ParentVUE, at the end of each testing window, you will see your child’s MAP national percentile rank. Additionally in the Spring, you will see your child’s conditional growth percentile and your child’s MAP Student Progress Report as a PDF. The Student Progress Report quick reference guide is included with your child’s report. The reference guide is also available in Spanish.

Family Guide to MAP Growth

Take a Tour of MAP Growth

Learn Why Norms are Important

The goal is for teachers to utilize MAP to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students.

When teachers log into NWEA to access data, they generally review three different reports.

The Class Report provides summary data on the whole class's strengths and weaknesses within a content area, by goal area (also known as standard or reporting category). This data can be compared with division and national norms to determine class progress. This report also provides data, such as test duration and standard error, that allows a teacher to determine students who may have rushed through the test or whose score appears well outside the expected range.

The Class Breakdown Report, viewed by content area and by goal area, displays a range of RIT bands and the students that fall within each band. This gives teachers a clear view of the varying readiness levels on that content and allows the teachers to group students for instruction. For example, a teacher may notice that he has students in 6 different RIT bands, some of which show a significant need for introduction and some of which show students who are already familiar with the content and require enrichment. The teacher will group students with similar needs together and then differentiate their lesson plan so that all students receive instruction at their level.

The Learning Continuum takes the MAP data from the Class Breakdown Report and applies it to Virginia's standards of learning so that teachers can clearly see which skills/information students need for content mastery. The Learning Continuum can also show students who are working below and above grade level along a continuum of content knowledge at a more detailed level than the Class Breakdown Report.

Once teachers have this information and begin planning instruction for the coming weeks, they may also integrate instructional elements, such as digital content, performance-based assessments and/or other elements of personalized learning to ensure students working independently or collaboratively remain meaningfully engaged in daily instruction.

NWEA video on differentiation for high performing students

Teachers use student MAP data to provide differentiated instruction, to effectively and appropriately group students, and to facilitate students’ goal-setting so that students share ownership of their learning. In schools implementing Personalized Learning, teachers use MAP data to inform PL playlists and rotations. Some digital learning tools, such as Dreambox, use MAP data to quickly tailor content presented to students based on what they already know.

Video: MAP Information for Parents

RIT Score: MAP Growth uses a RIT scale to accurately measure what students know, regardless of their grade level. It also measures growth over time, allowing you to track your child’s progress throughout the school year and across multiple years. Once your child completes a MAP Growth test, they receive a RIT score. You can view their RIT scores on the Student Progress Report in ParentVUE each Spring.

Percentile Range – The student's percentile rank, or the percentage of students that had a RIT score less than or equal to this student's score according to the most recent NWEA RIT Scale Norms study. The National Percentile compares your student to students from the same grade and with the same weeks of instruction between testing.

The Conditional Growth Percentile, or CGP, is a student’s percentile rank for growth. If a student’s CGP is 50, this means that the student’s growth was greater than 50 percent of similar students in the NWEA norm group. Students are similar with regard to starting achievement level, grade, subject area, and number of instructional weeks between test events.

A student who demonstrated growth equivalent to that of similar students (that is, equal to the student growth norms) will have a CGP of 50. Growth greater than the norm would result in a percentile rank higher than the 50th percentile, and growth less than the norm would result in a percentile rank lower than the 50th percentile. CGPs range from the 1st to 99th percentile.

CGPs can be compared across grade levels and across subjects but should not be averaged. This means that, if you have two students who have CGPs of 25 and 75, you can say that the student with a CGP of 75 grew more compared to their norm group than the student with a CGP of 25. However, it would not be valid to say this group of students, on average, has a CGP of 50.