When Georgetown ISD received lower-than-expected STAAR test scores two years ago, Dr. Brent knew the District could do better. He convened his leadership and instructional teams to begin planning and meeting the challenge.
“We knew that if we focused on providing for student growth every year, every student—regardless of what level he or she is on at the start of a school year—deserves at least one year’s academic growth,” he says.
STAAR V. MAP
At the end of every school year, Texas students are required to take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test, which is used as an indicator of student learning to ensure they are prepared to enter the next grade level. What the STAAR test is not able to do is adapt to individual students and help them grow over the year. That’s where MAP testing comes in.
Created by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth is a standardized test used to monitor academic growth throughout the school year and set goals for the next assessment cycle.
MAP-ing
GISD students in K-8 grade take the MAP three times; the beginning, middle, and end of the year. The District incorporated MAP testing to assess student progress so teachers can track and foster growth. “Schools and teachers are able to see which students and student groups are growing, how they are growing, as well as how they are performing compared to their peers across the country,” says Wes Vanicek, GISD chief strategist for assessment and feedback. “This allows teacher teams and campus leaders to tailor practices and dig in a little deeper to understand why certain results are the way they are, then make adjustments in the classroom.”
The MAP Growth test is different from other standardized tests in that the questions are “leveled” by grade level difficulty, and the test is adaptive—as a student answers questions correctly, the questions become more challenging and vice versa. “This provides a more precise measurement of progress. A teacher can better see where exactly a student is ready to learn (i.e., at, above or below grade level),” Wes says.
To Dr. Brent, focusing on the individual child and the academic growth of each will naturally result in better test scores.
“What I worry about with regard to improving STAAR scores, is that if we focus only on the test, we would rob students of so many enrichment experiences.”
“I love the fact that every middle school child, regardless of who they are or where they’re from, if they want to be in middle school orchestra, we’re going to make that happen. We have middle school orchestra at every middle school campus. We have engineering at every middle school. We have so many elementary instructional programs that are created to meet the diverse needs of our students.”
Dr. Fred Brent
MAP Growth is another way to meet those needs, with the added benefit of boosting test numbers. “What we believe is that by focusing our student growth on the standards over the course of the year, and making instructional adjustments along the way, that our students are going to grow, and that growth will be reflected through improved STAAR scores,” Dr. Brent shares.
For more information about MAP testing, visit nwea.org.