With this 2024-2025 school year coming to an end, there has been a lot of preparation for the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) test that middle school students have to take yearly.
Teachers take a lot of time trying to plan on how they are going to prepare their students to help them score well on the test and understand the curriculum that they will be tested on. Samantha Orr, middle school math teacher, mentioned, “I spend about two to three weeks to review everything I taught this year with students. We spend a majority of the time reviewing together and then they work on a MAP packet full of questions provided by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).” She continued, “These resources are beneficial to prepare students for the type of questions they will get on the test and reviewing content material in a different format than how to review in class.”
With teachers having a lot on their plate throughout the year teachers have strategies to help prepare them, Ms. Orr stated her strategy she uses to be prepared is, “At the start of the school year I plan out the curriculum and determine how long it will take me to teach it all to the students. I look at the dates for MAP testing and build in time for reviewing material. This tentative plan changes over the course of the year for when we have snow days or students need additional time on more complicated concepts.” She continued, “I adjust as needed but always make sure we have time to review for the state assessment. As we come back from spring break, I start making copies and get the materials I need to review ready for students.”
Students will not be graded on their MAP score but teachers tell students to try their best because it helps benefit the teacher by telling them important information about their students and how they grow throughout the year. Ms. Orr followed, “We receive the data and scores from the assessment in the fall of the next school year. The scores help show a student’s growth from year to year. We analyze the data to determine which standards students struggled the most with and then as departments who look to see how we can focus on those standards more in hopes to improve student understanding.” She continued, “The scoring does not impact student’s grades but it does matter to determine if our students at FGMS (Fair Grove Middle School) are on level with other students in the state of Missouri.”
In the middle school the staff has made a schedule which they follow to help make the testing run smoothly. Ms. Orr mentioned, “The grade does not test together in the same room; however, they test during the same time frame. Each grade level does it a little differently because the number of tests the students have to take depends on the grade level they are enrolled in.”
Ms. Orr continued, “ We only test during the morning hours, 1st hour through 4th hour. Students go to lunch and then the afternoon is normal class rotations with some time spent outside as a reward time. 7th grade only tests in ELA and math. Half the grade is taking their Math MAP on the first day while the other half is testing their ELA MAP.” She continued, “The next day the groups switch and take the test they didn’t take the day before. 8th grade tests for four days. The students are split into four groups, one for each test. For example, a group will take their ELA session 2-4 on Tuesday, then on Wednesday they take their Math test, Thursday is for them to write their five paragraph essay, and Friday they finish testing with the Science portion of the MAP.”
As their scores come back when they see their growth they can get a better understanding of why teachers try to get students to listen and comprehend what they are teaching, so they will be prepared for the test at the end of the year.
