Frequent Questions for the Learning Continuum

Term Rostered: Term when students were enrolled ("rostered") into your class. Typically, you can leave it set to the current term (choices are limited to the current and previous academic years).

Term Tested: Term with the test events you want to see. For example, in the fall you might want to see results from the prior spring. Choices are limited to terms that are either concurrent with or precede the Term Rostered.

• Reinforce — For learning statements in the RIT band just below where a student scored, you could reinforce their learning, but they are likely to know these skills and concepts.
• Develop — The learning statements in the RIT band where a student scored are what the student should be working on now.
• Introduce — The learning statements in the RIT band just above where a student scored are potential skills and concepts you could introduce when the student is ready for more challenge.

The term “grade band” refers to the listings published in EDL Core Vocabularies, an industry standard for correlating vocabulary with the grade level at which words are introduced.

• Once you have the view showing the data you want, then use the browser's Print command: Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on Mac).
• For a PDF, you could print to an Adobe PDF printer driver, if installed on your computer.
• Tip: If you encounter issues, such as lines of text cut off, then try using a different browser, such as Firefox instead of Chrome.

Every learning statement is associated to one or more MAP test questions. By calibrating test questions to RIT scores, the corresponding learning statements can also be shown to fall within RIT bands.

Note: The appearance of a learning statement in a given RIT band does not necessarily mean that students who fall in that RIT band received questions about that skill or concept. However, statistically a student's RIT score within a goal area does predict the applicability of learning statements to a given RIT band.

Depending on which test version you have, the Group by Topic display option may appear. These topic groups are chosen by NWEA to make it easier to locate common themes and content. The topics are not connected to any standard.

As part of the older DesCartes report, there were lists of the vocabulary, signs, and symbols corresponding to RIT bands. However, these lists no longer apply to the way newer learning statements are aligned to test questions.

The probabilities shown in the older DesCartes report no longer apply to the way newer learning statements are aligned to test questions. What does apply are the distinctions between adjacent RIT bands: 

• Reinforce — For learning statements in the RIT band just below where a student scored, you could reinforce their learning, but they are likely to know these skills and concepts.
• Develop — The learning statements in the RIT band where a student scored are what the student should be working on now.
• Introduce — The learning statements in the RIT band just above where a student scored are potential skills and concepts you could introduce when the student is ready for more challenge.

Display Options, such as Group by Topic, are not available on all test versions. There are three situations you could encounter:

Eventually, all new test versions will have similar Display Option capabilities. These capabilities depend on when the test is updated with new learning statements.

Because of the adaptive nature of MAP assessments, the primary grade tests do contain questions that go beyond the targeted grade level. For this reason, the grade-level filters in the Display Options also go beyond the K-2 target.

However, the primary grade tests themselves are still designed for students in grades K-2.

Beginning in August 2014, some test versions include newly crafted learning statements that are easy to read and that you can filter by grade-level standard. These new statements will be added to all MAP tests as part of a two-year roll-out.

You can tell if you have the newer learning statements by clicking Edit Display Options. You should see Group by Standard and Standards Filters: 

Note: When viewing results from terms prior to fall 2014, you will see older learning statements, because the test version given at that time did not have the latest alignment.

Statements covering a broad range of RIT bands indicate a skill or concept with progressive levels of complexity, such as multiplying single digits vs. multiple digits.

You can still differentiate instruction in these situations by varying the complexity and context of the skill.

Note: In contrast, the older DesCartes report artificially truncated learning statements to appear in only three consecutive RIT bands.