Parent Toolkit: From NWEA
A guide to NWEA assessments
About NWEA
Northwest Evaluation Association is a not-for-profit organization
committed to helping school districts throughout the nation improve
learning for all students. It partners with more than 1,300 school
districts representing more than three million students. As a result
of NWEA tests, educators can make informed decisions to promote your
child’s academic growth.
This Parent Toolkit was created by NWEA as a resource and guide for
parents. It includes Frequently Asked Questions, Tips for Parents, a
list of web sites for parents and kids, and information on Lexile—a
tool for measuring text difficulty. NWEA hopes you find this toolkit
helpful and invites you to have conversations with your school
district personnel about NWEA’s assessment tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the different NWEA Assessments?
The NWEA assessments are:
MAP— NWEA’s computerized adaptive tests are called Measure of
Academic Progress, or MAP. When taking a MAP test, the difficulty of
each question is based on how well a student answers all the
previous questions. As the student answers correctly, questions
become more difficult. If the student answers incorrectly, the
questions become easier. In an optimal test, a student answers
approximately half the items correctly and half incorrectly. The
final score is an estimate of the student’s achievement level.
ALT—NWEA’s paper and pencil tests are called Achievement
Level Tests, or ALT. ALT tests are different than wide-range
grade-level tests where one test is constructed for each grade. ALT
consists of a series of tests that are aligned with the difficulty
of the test content rather than a student’s age or grade. The
items—or questions—in a single ALT level have a small, targeted
range of difficulty, and are designed to provide an enhanced match
of the test to the set of students who take it. The range of
difficulty for a single ALT level is far smaller than the range of
difficulty for a wide-range test. This makes it possible to collect
a great deal of information about a student’s achievement.ISAT—Idaho Standard Achievement Tests, or ISAT, are the tests
adopted by the state of Idaho. There are two versions: ISAT
Computerized Version and ISAT Paper and Pencil Version.
What are computerized adaptive tests?
Computerized adaptive tests are test taken on a computer. The
difficulty of a test is adjusted to the student’s performance so
each student sees different test questions. The difficulty of each
question is based on how well the student has answered the questions
up to that point. As the student answers correctly, the questions
become more difficult. If the student answers incorrectly, the
questions become easier.
What subjects do MAP and ALT assess?
MAP and ALT include math, reading, and language assessments. In
addition, some districts may choose to include science assessments.
©2004 Northwest Evaluation Association
How long does it take to complete a test?
Although the tests are not timed, it usually takes students about
one hour to complete each test.
When will my student be tested and how often?
Districts have the option of testing their students up to four times
a year. Districts typically test students at the beginning of the
school year in fall and at the end of the school year in spring.
Some districts may also choose to test students in winter and
summer.
Do all students in the same grade take the same test?
No. NWEA assessments are designed to target a student’s academic
performance in math, language usage, and reading. These tests are
tailored to an individual’s current achievement level. This gives
each student a fair opportunity to show what he or she knows and can
do. If a school uses MAP or the ISAT Computer Version, the computer
adjusts the difficulty of the questions so that each student takes a
unique test. If a school uses ALT or the ISAT Paper and Pencil
Version, there may be four or five different levels of tests given
in a single classroom.
What are NWEA assessments used for?
NWEA assessments are used to measure your student’s progress or
growth in school. You may have a chart in your home on which you
mark your child’s height at certain times, such as on his or her
birthday. This is a growth chart. It shows how much he or she has
grown from one year to the next. NWEA assessments do the same sort
of thing, except they measure your student’s growth in reading,
language usage, and math skills. The scale used to measure your
child’s progress is called the RIT scale (Rasch unIT). The RIT scale
is an equal-interval scale much like feet and inches on a yardstick.
It is used to chart your student’s academic growth from year to
year.
How do teachers use the test scores?
NWEA tests are important to teachers because they keep track of
progress and growth in basic skills. They let teachers know where a
student’s strengths are and if help is needed in any specific areas.
Teachers use this information to help them guide instruction in the
classroom.
What can parents do to help their students prepare for
testing?
Please see the Tips for Parents section for helpful information.
Tips for Parents
Ways to help your student prepare for testing
Three kinds of parental involvement at home are consistently
associated with higher student achievement:
.. Actively organizing and monitoring a child’s time.
.. Helping with homework.
.. Discussing school matters.
.. Meet with your child’s teacher as often as needed to discuss his
or her progress. Ask the teacher to suggest activities for you and
your child to do at home to help prepare for tests and improve your
child’s understanding of schoolwork. Parents and teachers working
together benefits students.
.. Provide a quiet, comfortable place for studying at home.
.. Make sure that your child is well rested on school days and
especially the day of a test. Children who are tired are less able
to pay attention in class or to handle the demands of a test.
.. Give your child a well-rounded diet. A healthy body leads to a
healthy, active mind.
.. Provide books and magazines for your child to read at home. By
reading new materials, a child learns new words that might appear on
a test. Ask your child’s school about a suggested outside reading
list or get suggestions from the public library.
Ways to help your child with language
.. Talk to your child and encourage him or her to engage in
conversation during family activities.
.. Give a journal or diary as a gift.
.. Help your child write a letter to a friend or family member.
Offer assistance with correct grammar usage and content.
.. Have a “word of the week” that is defined every Monday. Encourage
your child to use the new word throughout the week.
.. Plan a special snack or meal and have your child write the menu.
.. After finishing a chapter in a book or a magazine article, have
your child explain his or her favorite event.
Ways to help your child with reading
.. Provide many opportunities for your child to read books or other
materials. Children learn to read best when they have books and
other reading materials at home and plenty of chances to read.
.. Read aloud to your child. Research shows that this is the most
important activity that parents can do to increase their child’s
chance of reading success. ...Keep reading aloud even when your
child can read independently.
.. Make time for the library.
.. Play games like Scrabble, Spill and Spell, Scattergories, and
Balderdash together.
.. Follow your child’s interest—find fiction and nonfiction books
that tie into this interest.
.. Work crossword puzzles with your child.
.. Give a magazine subscription for a gift.
Ways to help your child with math
.. Spend time with kids on simple board games, puzzles, and
activities that encourage better attitudes and stronger math skills.
Even everyday activities such as playing with toys in a sandbox or
in a tub at bath time can teach children math concepts such as
weight, density, and volume. Check your television listings for
shows that can reinforce math skills in a practical and fun way.
Did you know?
Parents cannot assume that schoolwork makes up for too much TV.
Children of all ages watch as much TV in one day as they read for
fun in an entire week. Overall, children under age 13 spend 90
minutes a day in front of the TV—one-quarter of their free time. –
U.S. Department of Education
.. Encourage children to solve problems. Provide assistance, but let
them figure it out themselves. Problem solving is a lifetime skill.
.. The kitchen is filled with tasty opportunities to teach
fractional measurements, such as doubling and dividing cookie
recipes.
.. Point out ways that people use math every day to pay bills,
balance their checkbooks, figure out their net earnings, make
change, and how to tip at restaurants. Involve older children in
projects that incorporate geometric and algebraic concepts such as
planting a garden, building a bookshelf, or figuring how long it
will take to drive to your family vacation destination.
.. Children should learn to read and interpret charts and graphs
such as those found in daily newspapers. Collecting and analyzing
data will help your child draw conclusions and become discriminating
readers of numerical information.
Web sites for Kids and Parents
Math
www.aaamath.com Math practice and activities
www.coolmath.com Interactive math games
www.funbrain.com Great site for kids
www.aplusmath.com A+ Math
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ Ask Dr. Math
www.gomath.com On line math help
www.tangram.i-p.com/ Interactive tangrams
www.mathleague.com/help/help.htm Math League help topics
www.edhelper.com Help for all subjects
Language Arts/Reading
www.funbrain.com Language Arts games and more
www.m-w.com/game/ Merriam Webster Word Game of the Day
www.vocabulary.com Vocabulary activities
www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/words Vocabulary builders
http://helponenglish.homestead.com English help
www.writesite.org Interactive Language Arts and Journalism
www.lexile.com Lexile Framework ©2004 Northwest Evaluation
Association
www.kidsreads.com Book reviews, games, authors, and more
http://ccpl.carr.lib.md.us/read/ The Reading Corner
Lexile
A Lexile is a unit for measuring text difficulty that is linked to
the RIT score. Lexile is reported on an equal interval scale, like
the RIT scale. 10L is at the low end of the scale and 1700L is at
the high end. Books for beginning readers are listed as BR on the
scale. The Lexile range is included on individual student progress
reports. It allows educators and parents to find books, periodicals,
and other reading material that is appropriately challenging for
each student.
Students are considered to be at an appropriate level when they can
comprehend approximately 75% of the material they read. This ensures
that students are neither frustrated nor bored, and are stimulating
their learning processes while rewarding their current reading
abilities.
A Lexile measures syntactic complexity—the number of words per
sentence. We know that longer sentences are more complex and require
more short-term memory to process. A Lexile also measures semantic
difficulty—a measure of vocabulary. This measure looks at the
frequency of words in a text compared to a body of over 400 million
words. This is the largest repository of text in the world and is
quickly approaching 500 million words.
The Lexile database currently includes over 30,000 books. You can
access the Lexile website at www.lexile.com. You can search titles
(both Spanish and English) at the website free of charge. The
regular search feature allows you to search by title, author, ISBN,
subject, or Lexile range. By using the detailed search on the same
page, you can also search by theme, interest, or content area. Other
features of the website include frequently asked questions, the
Lexile Times Newsletter, a parent link, and a reading calendar.
Check it out!
It is very important for parents to keep in mind that Lexile does
not evaluate genre, theme, content, or interest. Even though a
student might be able to read books at a certain Lexile, the content
or theme of the text may not be appropriate for that particular
student because of his or her age or developmental level. Also, a
student may be able to read more difficult content if it is an area
of interest for that child since he or she may already be familiar
with some of the vocabulary necessary to comprehend the text.
Some Examples of Books
Green Eggs and Ham
30L
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
940L
Amelia Bedelia
140L
Hatchet
1020L
Clifford, the Big Red Dog
220L
Pride and Prejudice
1100L
NWEA Parent Toolkit Page 7 of 7
Bony-Legs
370L
The Adventures of Robin Hood
1270L
Curious George
400L
Little Women
1300L
Sarah, Plain and Tall
560L
Profiles in Courage
1410L
Charlotte’s Web
680L
The Good Earth
1530L
Jurassic Park
710L
The Principles of Scientific Management
1670L
The Fellowship of the Ring
860L
Discourse on the Method and Meditations on First Philosophy
1720L
Commonly Used Terms
MAP—Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) are a series of
computerized adaptive tests that measure a student’s general
knowledge in reading, language usage, and math.
ALT— ALT – Achievement Level Tests (ALT) are a series of
paper and pencil assessments that measure a student’s general
knowledge in reading, language usage, and math.
RIT—Tests
developed by NWEA use a scale called RIT to measure student
achievement and growth. RIT stands for Rasch UnIT, which is a
measurement scale developed to simplify the interpretation of test
scores. The RIT score relates directly to the curriculum scale in
each subject area. It is an equal-interval scale, like feet and
inches, so scores can be added together to calculate accurate class
or school averages. RIT scores range from about 150 to 300. Students
typically start at the 150 to 190 level in the third grade and
progress to the 240 to 300 level by high scale. RIT scores make it
possible to follow a student’s educational growth from year to year.
Standards—Standards are statements, developed by states or
districts, of what students should know and be able to do, related
to specific academic areas.
Percentile rank—The percentile rank is a normative statistic
that indicates how well a student performed in comparison to the
students in the norm group. The most recent norm sample was a group
of approximately 1,000,000 students from across the United States. A
student’s percentile rank indicates that the student scored as well
as, or better than, the percent of students in the norm group. In
other words, a student with a percentile rank of 72 scored as well
as, or better than 72% of the students in the norm group.
Lexile—A Lexile is a unit for measuring text difficulty. This
unit is linked to the RIT score. By determining the level of text
difficulty students can comprehend, Lexiles can be used to determine
student reading ability. |
