NWEA presents winter MAP data showing above‑average growth for HISD students
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Summary
NWEA told the HISD board that winter 2026 MAP scores show large year-to-year and three‑year gains for Houston students relative to a custom group of large urban districts; presenters described extensive validation but fielded questions about denominators, timing and interpretation.
NWEA researchers presented winter 2026 MAP assessment results at the Houston ISD board meeting on Feb. 12, reporting above‑average student growth across reading, math and science compared with a custom comparison group of 22 large urban districts.
Scott Peters, director of research consulting at NWEA, explained two main metrics: median achievement percentile (a student’s standing relative to national norms) and “years of typical student growth” (a growth metric anchored to the 50th percentile). Peters said HISD students consistently outpaced peers in the comparison group over three years and in the most recent winter administration.
Peters described the data sources and validation steps: the 2025 national norms were updated using 116 million test scores; NWEA checked district testing dates, adjusted for testing-window differences, and ran multiple alternative analyses and red-team reviews. He acknowledged caution where denominators are small (particularly some middle-school science comparisons) but said the research team could not find a data-processing error that would explain the pattern.
Superintendent Mike Miles framed the findings as strong news for HISD, highlighting subgroup gains and narrowing gaps for Black and Hispanic students. Board members asked technical questions about test timing, item sampling, and whether students could have been coached to the test; NWEA answered that MAP is adaptive (items pulled from an item bank) and test length varies by grade but typical middle‑school administrations take about an hour.
NWEA and district officials said more detailed progress-monitoring results will be presented at the next board meeting; the district will also provide deeper school‑level files for trustees and staff. No formal action was taken on the NWEA report at the Feb. 12 meeting.