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Los Alamitos Unified says NWEA MAP data will guide instruction; presenters cite high predictive accuracy for SBAC
Summary
District staff told the board that NWEA MAP Growth is being used as an instructional tool across grade levels, with collaboration days, teacher binders and family reports; presenters cited MAP-to-SBAC correlations (~0.84–0.92) and classification accuracy (~84–91%) while emphasizing the metric is probabilistic, not deterministic.
At the board’s workshop portion, Ms. Reid of district education services presented part two of a two-part series on assessments as instructional tools, emphasizing collaboration, data analysis and teacher capacity building.
Reid framed assessments as ‘‘instructional tools’’ rather than purely accountability measures and said the district is in its first year using new literacy checks tied to the California dyslexia mandate (Senate Bill 114). ‘‘Assessments really are instructional tools and are the first step in best first instruction,’’ she said.
The presentation explained how NWEA MAP Growth is administered (adaptive assessment, grades 2–10 three times a year), how the MAP RIT score functions as a continuous ‘‘location on a learning ladder,’’ and how teachers can use MAP class profiles, student profiles and learning continua to group students for differentiated instruction.
Reid described the district’s rollout: six collaboration days for grade-level teams and personalized binders for teachers containing every student profile and class-level reports, intended to let teachers ‘‘identify class and individual student needs by instructional area, redesign whole class instruction and draft small group plans for the next 6 to 8 weeks.’’ She said 82 percent was showing on a teacher dashboard as the percent of students tested at a point during the fall window.
On predictive validity, Reid gave numerical examples: ‘‘The correlation between MAP growth, the RIT scores, and SBAC scale scores range from 0.84 to 0.92 depending upon the subject area and grade,’’ she said, and added the district’s classification accuracy for predicting SBAC proficiency using MAP ranges about 84 to 91 percent. She cautioned that the projections are probabilistic: ‘‘reaching the RIT cut score does not guarantee proficiency on SBAC. It rather provides a strong probability of information.’’
During Q&A, trustees asked about students entering after the fall window, concerns about ‘‘teaching to the test,’’ and whether MAP and CAASPP/SBAC should be triangulated with classroom measures. Reid and Superintendent Dr. Pulver said those sources should be used together: MAP for timely, actionable grouping and CAASPP/SBAC for year-over-year trend analysis.
The board concluded the workshop and, with no public comment, announced it would move into closed session to address labor negotiations and student discipline.
