“The purpose of quality student assessment is to help students learn! And teachers teach!”
nwea.org

I love this quote that is found on the website of our assessment partner, the Northwest Evaluation Association. It truly demonstrates how quality evaluation can enhance a student’s overall educational experience, while providing teachers with the information they need to best assist your students’ education.

This year, our sixth partnering with NWEA, The International School of Ouagadougou continues to use the Measures of Academic Progress assessment to ensure that your students are making measurable growth.

On Friday afternoon, the MAP results were published on PlusPortals. In Elementary School, they were also sent home. When reviewing and discussing your students’ progress, please keep in mind:

• MAP tests are individualized measures of performance in Reading, and Math. Tests are taken on the computer, and the results help teachers, parents, and administrators improve learning for all students. The results help us work together to make informed decisions that promote your students’ academic growth.
• MAP tests are adaptive, which means that the test is designed to target each student’s academic performance. These assessments are tailored to each student’s current achievement level. The computer adjusts the difficulty level of the questions as the test progresses. Therefore, each student takes a unique test. The assessment also has a standard deviation variable, which lets us know if the student is “disengaged”, and if the test results are valid and reliable.
• The goal of the Measure of Academic Progress assessment is to measure “growth over time”, and also to ensure “quality control” (chart below). Next Trimester, we will be able to compare our academic program to not just U.S.-based schools, but to other schools in our association (Association of International Schools in Africa – AISA), and to other U.S. State Department-Assisted Schools (A/OS).

FALL 2021 MAP SCORES* EVALUATION

*Updated as of September 13th, 2021.

Last year, as the school was physically open for 173 days during the ongoing health crisis, I shared the school’s academic performance with the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) that produces our Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment; they responded as follows:

“Your positive message about your students’ academic success has reminded me of why we cherish our profession, but more importantly, it reaffirms that anything is possible and achievable. Even in the most challenging situations … by placing students first, and making informed “real time” data-driven decisions, our students’ academic growth knows no limit.”

Over the next two weeks, we will be working with the students to try to identify the answers to crucial questions such as: what have our students learned? What are their present learning triumphs and challenges? And, what do we – as a learning community – need to put in place to set our students up for success?

Parents who wish to discuss MAP results with the corresponding teachers are encouraged to contact them directly to schedule an appointment. This will allow us to ensure that we are all working together for student academic growth and success.
Jeff

Reference:

*RIT: https://legacysupport.nwea.org/node/4344

Attached:

• MAP Quick Reference Key
• Parent Guide to MAP Growth