MAP Parent Information

District 86 uses different measures to chart your child's educational progress. This web page describes MAP, or Measures of Academic Progress, which is one way we measure your child's educational progress. MAP is a computerized adaptive assessment. It assesses each student on an individual basis, with each new question based on the student's previous response. Students in grades 2-7 take reading tests in the fall, winter and spring.  Students in grades 6-7 also take the math test at the same time. However, no single test can give a full accounting of your child's knowledge and skills. Each test that we use provides one part of the whole picture.

The RIT Score

A RIT score for your child is earned in each subject area and is a measure of individual achievement. As students take MAP over a period of time, the RIT scores will also be a measure of academic growth.

Just as a doctor has a chart showing the most common height of people at certain ages, the chart below shows "typical" scores for students in grades 2-8 who are tested in the fall and in the spring. For example, an average 4th grader would get a RIT score of 201 in reading in the fall of the year.

The chart also shows typical growth. If a 4th grader's score in the fall is 201 in reading, that same student would typically score about 208 in the fall of 5th grade.
 

Chart of Typical Scores - National Norms

Grade

Reading

Math

	Fall	Spring	Fall	Spring
2	178	190	179	191
3	192	200	193	202
4	201	207	203	211
5	208	212	211	219
6	213	217	218	224
7	217	220	225	229
8	220	223	230	234

The Percentile Score

The second score that a student earns is the percentile rank. This tells you how your child is doing compared to other students in the same grade. For example, if your 7th grader has a percentile score of 81 in mathematics, your child scores better than 81% of 7th graders, nationally, who have taken MAP.

Goal Areas

Each MAP is made up of parts, called "goal areas." These are the goal areas for each MAP. You can look at your child's report and see if your child has stronger or weaker areas.
 

Reading Word Analysis/Vocabulary Reading Strategies/Comprehension Literature Literary Works

Mathematics Number Sense Measurement Algebra Geometry Data Analysis and Probability

The Lexile Score

Your child also earns a score called a Lexile score that tells some additional information about your child's reading. The Lexile score is a measure of a student's achievement in reading as it relates to the varying difficulty level of books. If a student has a Lexile score of 1000, for example, then the student should be able to read books that are at about the 1000 level with about 75% comprehension. Books that are more than 50 Lexile points above the student's Lexile score will be challenging for the student, while books more than 100 Lexile points below will be easier, independent material for the student. The Lexile Framework website has more information about the Lexile score.

Growth Picture

Over the years a table or chart of your child's test scores shows progress or growth.

Each table shows your child's progress in one subject area. Each student's subsequent score from the same time of year (fall-to-fall or spring-to-spring) should be higher on the graph than the previous one. In general, most students show little growth or even slip a little between the previous spring and fall testing and very high performing students tend to show somewhat less growth in scores than lower performing students.

You can also compare your child's score to that of the district average and to an established standard for the grade. However, the real value of the growth table is in tracking the progress of each student whether he or she is achieving at a higher or lower level than other students.