NWEA MAP test - Score over 320 labeled "invalid"

[TanyaS]

Apparently, if a student scores over 320 on a Measures of Academic Progress test, the student will be not be given a score and the report will indicate that their score was "Invalid."

Has anyone seen this happen? If so, what happened next (i.e., was the student asked to take the test again)?

Does anyone have any idea how often this happens?

 

[TanyaS]

Have any teachers ever heard of this in their schools?

Maybe it is crazy rare.

It seems so odd to me that they are giving the students a test that it is possible to have no result if you do too well on it. Especially since they use the test (in my district) for teacher bonuses and magnet school admissions.

 

[scrapquitler]

Apparently, if a student scores over 320 on a Measures of Academic Progress test, the student will be not be given a score and the report will indicate that their score was "Invalid."

Has anyone seen this happen? If so, what happened next (i.e., was the student asked to take the test again)?

Does anyone have any idea how often this happens?

First I will say this: I don't know anything at all about this test.

I did take statistics way back in the dark ages while I was in college, and I have to wonder if this test is used to gauge the overall performance of the teacher rather than of the individual student? Maybe they are just using that score as a cut off to toss out the very highest scores (and a similar low number score to eliminate the lowest) those scores so outside the norm can artificially skew the results of the test. So if they eliminate these unusually high and low scores (called 'outliers') , they can get a more accurate look at the results.

 

[Cindy B]

Scrapquilter is very close.

A few schools I have worked at have used this measuring tool. (Note I did not say test).

In the years I have used it-- I have seen NO ONE get a 320. The highest I have seen was 295

It is an adaptive test, meaning it delivers the material on a level.. starts off with an easy question, student gets it right, they get a harder question., If the harder question is answered correctly, they get an even harder question, etc....

If a school is giving merit pay on an adaptive test (which technically differentiates) is basically wrong. Students can click through and get either easy or hard questions. There should be other measures such as standardized tests, benchmark assessments, summative assessments and other data that can be used instead of solely basing it on one adaptive test.

 

[scoutie]

I teach honors English and the highest score I have ever seen was 265. Most of my kids score between 202-240.

Does anyone have any idea how often this happens?

I'd say hardly ever.

Especially since they use the test (in my district) for teacher bonuses and magnet school admissions.

I feel badly for the teachers getting merit pay for how well their students do on this test.

 

[dawnball]

Apparently, if a student scores over 320 on a Measures of Academic Progress test, the student will be not be given a score and the report will indicate that their score was "Invalid."

Has anyone seen this happen? If so, what happened next (i.e., was the student asked to take the test again)?

Does anyone have any idea how often this happens?

It means that they've ceilinged the test, and can't be accurately assessed by it. 320 is the hard ceiling for the 6+ Math assessment, with a soft ceiling a bit lower (the 6+ reading assessment ceilings at 300), and the lower grades have appropriately lower ceilings, since the 6+ is a additive.

Unless there's reason to believe there was an administration error - it doesn't seem like re-testing with the same instrument would add any additional information - that student would need to take a more appropriate assessment.

 

[TanyaS]

I learned a little bit more about this and thought I would share. The test normally given in our schools is computer based and does top out at a score of 320. There is also a web-based test that doesn't top out until 350. The student in question apparently has answered all the harder question in the computer data bank, so the computer test doesn't have any more questions for him, but the web-based test should.

When they next offer the MAP test, they are going to have this student take the web-based test instead and he should be able to receive a score (probably above 320) to use in his magnet school admission (although this is not really necessary at this point since the high school principal has been made aware of the situation).

 

[Ethan C Bonnell]

I'm not sure if anyone will ever see this, but a kid at my middle school got this in seventh grade (Winter 2013). the staff at NWEA went over the test question by question and ended up just giving him a 35.

 

[Callie]

I think I remember these tests. A few of my classmates would have to retake them because they were told they either needed to go up a level or down a level.

 

[scoutie]

the staff at NWEA went over the test question by question and ended up just giving him a 35.

I hope the parents complained. A 35 isn't even a score on the MAP test. At my school, kids who score 200 are flagged to see if they might need reading help. A score of 35 isn't even a score.

 

[Kitty 34]

I think I remember these tests. A few of my classmates would have to retake them because they were told they either needed to go up a level or down a level.

That happened several times at the school I worked at. I always thought that was so wrong and not fair on the child (unless the child really wanted to retake it).

 

[QueenIsabella]

I know this is an old thread, and we no longer live where MAP testing is given. However, I can tell you that when my DD(now)14 was in third grade, she got a college-level question. I don't know the specifics--the teacher never said--and I can't remember what her score was. I know, that makes me a bad DIS mom, I should have been bragging to high heaven on that one. She's a really smart kid, to be sure, but it's not like she was doing high-level HS work in the third grade.