Go Bobcats! MPG Parent Workshop Primary Grades K-2 Mitchell Elementary School Please note that many graphics and portions of text within presentation were either lifted or adapted from NWEA’s website and are not the property of teachers at Mitchell School. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Go Bobcats! What is MAP/MPG? Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is a computerized test given to students at Mitchell in grades 3-8 in Reading and Math. MAP for Primary Grades (MPG) is the computerized test given to students at Mitchell in grades K-2. NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) is the nonprofit educational services organization that creates the assessment

Go Bobcats! Why do we use MAP/MPG? MAP/MPG tests are tailored to a student’s current achievement level and measures growth over time. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to succeed and maintain a positive attitude toward testing. Furthermore, with MAP/MPG we can administer shorter tests and use less class time while still receiving detailed, accurate information about your child’s growth. Following each testing period, you will receive a report showing your child’s growth. The test provides immediate information to students, teachers and families three times a year (fall, winter, spring).

Go Bobcats! How Does it Work? Students are tested in Reading and Mathematics on the computer Questions become more difficult with each correct answer, or easier with each incorrect answer Tests are about 1 hour long Reports are provided after each test to show growth, areas of strengths, areas to improve and goals for the year

Go Bobcats! What does it Measure? Reading – Foundational Skills (phonics/phonological awareness/print concepts) – Language and Writing (conventions/language usage and grammar) – Literature and Informational (Key ideas, details, craft, structure in each) – Vocabulary Use and Functions (Context Clues and References, Acquisition of new words and usage) Math – Operations and Algebraic Thinking (Represent & Solve Problems, Properties of Operations) – Number and Operations in Base Ten (counting, order of numbers, place value, basic addition and subtraction) – Measurement and Data (measuring and graphing, data interpretation) – Geometry (Reason with shapes and their attributes, fractions) Tests measure the essential skills that work together so that you can most effectively read and do math.

Go Bobcats! How Does it Measure? Similar to a growth chart, MAP tests measure your students growth in Math and Reading each year. The scale used to measure progress is not feet and inches, but a RIT scale. Reports provide scores for each skill area to determine strengths, areas to improve and overall score

Go Bobcats! Student Score Norm Group Ave Sample Student Progress Report Lexile Range Projected Growth National Percentile Ranking

Go Bobcats! Score/Status Norms (RIT Values) GradeBeginning of the Year Mean Middle of the Year Mean End of the Year Mean K

Go Bobcats! Commonly Used Terms with MPG

Go Bobcats!

What is a Lexile Measure? NWEA has partnered with MetaMetrics®, Inc., the developer of The Lexile Framework® for Reading. A Lexile range is a score (displayed as a 150-point range) resulting from a correlation between NWEA’s RIT score and the Lexile scale that helps identify reading material that is at an appropriate difficulty level for an individual student (see Student Goal Setting Sheets and Reports). It allows educators and parents to find books, periodicals, and other reading material that should stimulate a student to learning while rewarding their current reading abilities.

Go Bobcats! It measures syntactic complexity—the number of words per sentence. We know that longer sentences are more complex and require more short-term memory to process. A Lexile also measures semantic difficulty—a measure of vocabulary. This measure looks at the frequency of words in a text compared to a body of nearly 500 million words. It is very important for parents to keep in mind that even though a student might be able to read books at a certain Lexile, the content or theme of the text may not be appropriate for that particular student because of his or her age/developmental level. Also, a student may be able to read more difficult content if it is an area of interest for that child since he or she may already be familiar with some of the vocabulary necessary to comprehend the text.

Go Bobcats! Sample Lexile Level Books for a frame of reference on leveled books

Go Bobcats! What can you do with Lexile?

Go Bobcats! These RIT scores can be a good predictor for college readiness as well (aligned with state and national standardized tests) Ask your child about the test and their scores Teachers should be providing with you with Goal Setting Worksheet(s) for your after each testing window For more information on resources for parents, download the Parent Toolkit at This presentation will be available on your teacher’s websites. We are truly excited to begin a new era that focuses on every child’s individual growth and achievement. Partnering to help all kids learn, parents and teachers can have a profound positive effect on the lives of our children.