A thorough review of assessment options and available research on tests of student achievement led to  the adoption of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) published by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA). The MAP is a computer-adapted assessment that includes tests of reading, language arts and mathematics. With its first MAP administration in Spring 2002, the Charter School Association became one of nearly 155 school corporations across Indiana that has adopted MAP as an off-year assessment.

How MAP Works.  MAP is a computerized "student adapted" assessment in mathematics, reading or language, developed using Item-Response Theory.  In a student adapted test each student takes a unique test that is dynamically developed for the student as the test is being administered.  "The program instantly analyzes the student's response to each test item and determines the appropriate difficulty level to present during the remainder of the test.  It also remembers which items a student has seen in previous sessions and doesn't display them again." (NWEA, "Measures of Academic Progress: Assessments That Make a Difference"). In essence, the difficulty of the test is adjusted to the student's performance.

MAP Scores and Results.  MAP generates a "Rasch Unit score," or RIT score, to describe achievement and growth, where scores range from about150 (second and third-grade) to 300 (end of high school). Upon completion of a test the child's score appears immediately on the screen. Teachers can access class-level reports 24 hours after the data has been uploaded to NWEA. Unlike other standardized assessments, MAP can be taken up to four times a year. Moreover the MAP system keeps track of the student's test history, and reports are available showing student growth over time.

MAP Alignment Issues.  Each MAP test draws from extensive NWEA test banks (over 15,000 items) that have been developed by trained teachers to cover a wide range of achievement goals in each subject.  These items have also been field tested and calibrated for difficulty. NWEA's extensive test bank includes items aligned with Indiana proficiencies.

RIT Scores and Accountability.  RIT scores are tied directly to the standards. Because RIT scores are anchored to standards, it is possible to track student progress accurately from year to year. Hence, RIT scores are a stable direct indicator of student performance, and, therefore, can be interpreted as norm-referenced scores (with an appropriate reference group) and as standards-referenced scores (with an appropriate external standards).