Ohio Department of Education Selects NWEA MAP Growth as a Pre-Approved Assessment for Ohio Schools for Eighth Consecutive Year
PORTLAND, Ore. (PRWEB) June 25, 2018 -- NWEA, the not-for-profit provider of assessment solutions, today announced that the Ohio Department of Education has selected MAP Growth and MAP Growth K-2 as pre-approved third-party assessments for use by all Ohio school districts for the 2018-2019 school year. This is the eighth consecutive year that MAP Growth has been chosen as a pre-approved assessment for Ohio schools.
The MAP Growth assessments were approved by the Ohio Department of Education to measure student academic performance and growth in support of the state’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee, a program to identify students from kindergarten through grade 3 that are behind in reading. In all, MAP Growth was approved for use in four assessment categories: Comparable Assessments to Ohio’s K-3 Diagnostic Assessment for the Third Grade Reading Guarantee; Alternative Standardized Assessments for Third Grade Reading; Teacher and Principal Evaluation for ELA/Math untested grades K-12; and Identification for Children Who are Gifted.
Aligned to Ohio’s Learning Standards, MAP Growth provides precise, immediate, and actionable data to measure student growth. Public school districts in Ohio have been using MAP Growth assessments for more than a decade. Today, 40 percent of public school districts in Ohio use MAP Growth or MAP Growth K-2 to measure student academic growth.
Avon Local School District, in Avon, Ohio, uses MAP Growth to measure the academic growth of its 4,000 students.
"MAP Growth is a solution that meets several state mandates for our district in one assessment and allows us to maximize instruction time with our students,” said Ben Hodge, Assistant Superintendent, Avon Local Schools. “Most importantly, the data acquired from MAP Growth is essential to monitor and maximize our students' growth."
The state selected MAP Growth as an approved assessment after a rigorous review of MAP Growth’s alignment to the state’s Learning Standards. In addition, the Ohio Department of Education evaluated the assessment for reliability and validity; its ability to measure growth for all students; student data security; clear test administration, and scoring procedures; powerful reporting features; and comprehensive training and professional support.
“We are pleased to continue our important work with Ohio schools and teachers to support student academic growth, particularly in early literacy,” said Chris Minnich, CEO of NWEA. “MAP Growth supports the Ohio Department of Education’s assessment goals by providing immediate and reliable data to help identify students currently on track academically, as well as those falling behind, or ahead of their peers. This partnership provides us the opportunity to continue our mission in Ohio to help all kids learn.”
MAP Growth provides a precise measure of a K-12 student’s academic growth. A computer-adaptive assessment, it adjusts to each student’s responses to provide personalized results about what each student knows, is able to do, and is ready to learn next—whether on, above, or below grade level. Teachers receive immediate and actionable information in easy-to-use reports to help differentiate instruction for students in need of remediation and those high performers requiring additional enrichment. Because MAP Growth tracks individual student growth over time, it can help predict each student’s proficiency and college readiness.
MAP Growth is noted for its stable, equal-interval cross-grade scale and the accurate, valid, and reliable data it provides. This interim assessment provides nationally representative norms derived from more than 10 million students in the U.S.
MAP Growth includes innovative features to help teachers connect assessment data to classroom instruction, and ensure that all students can benefit from assessment activities. Through partnerships with the industry’s most extensive array of curriculum and instructional providers, teachers have the flexibility to use MAP Growth results with their current curricula and instructional tools. MAP Growth also supports the district-, school-, and class-level need for educational technologies to provide accessibility and accommodation features.
MAP Growth, MAP Skills, and MAP Reading Fluency comprise the MAP Suite from NWEA, a comprehensive assessment system with multiple ways to utilize assessment to improve instruction.
MAP Growth was the sole assessment awarded in the 2017 THE Journal Readers’ Choice Awards best assessment category. The awards recognize the best education technology products and services used by teachers throughout the country. MAP Growth also was named a winner of the Tech & Learning 2017 Awards of Excellence, which recognize the best new and upgraded education tools that help educators in teaching, training and managing with technology.
About NWEA
NWEA® is a mission-driven, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency—and provide insights to help tailor instruction. Educators in more than 9,500 schools, districts, and education agencies in 145 countries rely on our flagship interim assessment, MAP® Growth™; our progress monitoring and skills mastery tool, MAP® Skills™; and our reading fluency and comprehension assessment, MAP® Reading Fluency™. Visit NWEA.org to find out how NWEA can partner with you to help all kids learn.
Jessica Hahn, NWEA, http://www.nwea.org, 571-970-6440, [email protected]
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