It's MAP testing week at Burton Adventist Academy! If you're not familiar with what that means, we'd like to share a bit of information about MAP testing, how to "frame" the test results, and how to prepare your student. In short, the MAP test aides in the process of tracking and measuring not just student achievement (based on national norms), but also student growth, which helps provide a much clearer picture of each student's individual trajectory. For more in-depth information, you can visit NWEA's parent Q&A section here which provides some excellent information regarding the MAP.

Generally speaking, tests are untimed, and students are encouraged to work efficiently, but will have extra time to complete tests later in the week that they don't complete during the initial testing sessions. For students with documented accommodations (such as Text-to-Speech), the accommodations will be integrated into the assessment and accessed through the NWEA MAP platform/app itself. This means that any students utilizing Text-to-Speech need to bring their headphones to be able to take advantage of this accommodation. Regarding computation assistance, a calculator is built into the platform and is available for all students to use on many of the questions on the Math tests (unless the question is assessing a student's computational abilities). As the tests are untimed, students receiving "extra time" are naturally accommodated.

For families who have students with documented accommodations (which have been shared with the school) as mentioned above, we ask that you have a conversation with your student and come to an understanding with them about the importance of using their accommodations (particularly Text-to-Speech). As Text-to-Speech requires the use of headphones, not all students want to take advantage of this opportunity. We notice that some students might feel a bit awkward using headphones when their friends aren't using them. For this reason, we find it helpful when families can talk through these issues ahead of time, so students are inclined to take full advantage of their documented accommodations. Through this school and family partnership, we feel best equipped to support all students.

Also in preparation for allowing students to perform to the best of their ability, families are encouraged to stick to a healthy sleep schedule and to eat a good breakfast each day. Snacks are also recommended, which students can enjoy with the permission of their classroom teachers at the appropriate time.

Finally, we encourage families to keep a healthy perspective when it comes to the "results". As students take the MAP tests three times during the school year, the results are meant to serve as one of the ways we measure student learning and growth, not the only way. Students can have "bad days", especially when it comes to testing. When students perform well in school, but don't seem to test up to their ability, perhaps some further investigation is in order. On the flip side, students may test very well, and not perform up to their abilities in school. In either case, talking with students about the situation can help parents better understand if additional support resources are needed. And, for families who wish to take a deep dive into the available family resources, be sure to check out the Family Toolkit here! as we continue to pray for the success of all of our students and families.