RESULTS OF MAP TESTS STILL UNCLEAR; SOME SCHOOLS SURPRISED BY CONTINUED REVISION OF SCORES

School administrators still are awaiting final results from the first mandatory round of state tests taken by students last spring.

Local administrators were less than enthusiastic about the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) results they received earlier this month. MAP, the state's new performance-based system, was created and administered by CTB-McGraw Hill.

Some 180,000 fourth-, eighth-, and 10th-graders took the math portion of the MAP exam, which defines student performance by a five-step scale. The achievement levels range from step 1, the lowest graded level, to advanced, the highest graded level.

The math test is the only mandatory MAP exam. Tests measuring student proficiency in science, social studies and communication arts are still in the voluntary stages and will become required assessments within the next three years.

The initial math results indicated a majority of students taking the test scored above the national average in objective portions of the test but a low level of achievement in applying and demonstrating their skills. A second set of results sent soon after the initial results were mailed indicated even lower achievement by students.

Jackson, Oak Ridge and Cape Girardeau school districts were among some 60 districts whose aggregated totals had been figured incorrectly due to a computer problem, said Michael Kean, CTB McGraw-Hill vice-president for public and governmental affairs. This problem, coupled with a belief held by some that the results they received in early September were final, caused surprise over revised results among some officials.

"None of the individual preliminary results was incorrect; it was aggregating them up that created the problem," Kean said. "This tended to affect smaller districts more than it affected larger districts."

Jackson school officials expressed concerns with the revised test results soon after reviewing them because state averages did not change despite the revised district scores. The district's initial MAP test results showed student performance to be somewhat low but near or above state averages. Second and then third revisions indicated the district's students tested below average at nearly every level.

"Our teachers and administrators are all geared up to establish very specific goals to what they want to improve, and right now we don't know what we need to improve," said Dr. Howard Jones, Jackson schools superintendent. "What we're getting with this MAP assessment is building-wide data and district-wide data, but it's not broken down. We're having trouble figuring out how these are going to help us because the results are not diagnostic in nature."

Kean emphasized that individual testing scores were accurate. Only state averages and some district averages were skewed, and that problem will be corrected in the near future, he said.

"We are going to rerun every individual school building and district summary at our cost to make sure that the aggregate scores for individual districts are correct," he said. "In the final revisions, information will be provided with national percentile scores to compare districts statewide and against national averages."

Although district-wide results might have been disheartening, Keen said school officials should be able to track student progress more accurately after all problems are worked out of the system. The company currently works with about 20 other state assessment programs, and despite its problems Missouri's MAP exam is going to set a standard, he said.

"Even though the scores might look a little lower than we might like, that's what we want out there," he said. "There are no two states that have the same test, but Missouri's program is really one of the most innovative and a lighthouse for other programs."