District reports early MAP and unit-assessment results; officials say data show emerging gains
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Summary
District leaders presented beginning-of-year MAP achievement data and first-nine-week unit-assessment results, saying early indicators show areas of growth and targets for targeted supports; administration highlighted the need for continued teacher coaching and standards-aligned assessments.
South San Antonio ISD officials reported the district’s beginning-of-year MAP achievement scores and end-of-unit assessment results at the Oct. 20 board meeting, saying early data provide guidance for targeted instruction and intervention.
Assistant superintendent and assessment lead Dr. Gutierrez told the board that MAP is a norm-referenced, computer-adaptive screener used to identify prerequisite skill gaps and that the district is using unit assessments aligned to STAAR question types rather than vendor formats. "The goal is to ensure we have data that we can use as we're planning for instruction," Gutierrez said.
The presentation showed distributions of MAP percentiles across grades for math, reading and content areas. Gutierrez said the district is not yet measuring MAP growth because only a single administration had been completed; administrators will use a subsequent administration to report growth.
District-created unit assessments showed mixed results by grade and course. Gutierrez highlighted stronger early performance in some high-school end-of-course unit assessments (for example, initial English I unit scores) and noted improvement between unit 1 and unit 2 in several elementary and middle-school subjects. She also flagged areas needing focused support — for example, sixth-grade reading items on figurative language and author’s purpose — and said master teachers and cluster meetings are being used to target those gaps.
The administration emphasized that unit assessments have been written to reflect STAAR-style items rather than the vendor’s native format to better prepare students for the summative test. The board’s five-year component-score goal (60) for domain 1 was referenced during the presentation as a near-term target for district planning.
Trustees asked about the common pattern of a dip between fifth and sixth grades; Gutierrez said the district would disaggregate results (including language-of-test data for bilingual students) and report back with detailed breakdowns and plans to support transitions.
Officials said the work is ongoing and that formal benchmarks and summative measures will be reported at regular intervals.