GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Guilford County Schools Superintendent Dr. Sharon Contreras has said it from the get-go: nothing can replace face-to-face instruction.
So inevitably, there will be learning loss from months of remote schooling.
But how much has remote learning really affected academic progress? Can we measure it?
The district hopes one test will give a clear picture.
To help determine the impact of COVID-19 on learning, Guilford County Schools is partnering with the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) to measure our students’ academic progress. The NWEA MAP Growth assessment is administered in thousands of districts across the country and is taken by more than 34 million students.
The information gleaned from the assessments will be used to help teachers better target their instruction to meet their students’ needs. Students in grades K-2 will start giving the assessments in-person the week of December 8th. Students in grades 3 through 10 will begin testing after the winter break.
The NWEA MAP Growth assessment is a computer-adaptive test, which means if a student answers a question correctly, the next question is more challenging. If they answer incorrectly, the next one is easier, allowing them to perform at their current level. It also means that the NWEA MAP Growth assessment provides real time, personalized data to see if students perform at, above or below grade level. MAP data allows for comparisons at local and national levels as well as understanding of student growth and achievement and predictions of performance on state accountability assessments.
The assessment will be used to inform instruction, personalize learning and monitor the growth of individual students. The assessment also helps everyone involved in the learning process. A student and his/her teacher are able to immediately see which skills the student has mastered and which should be addressed. The assessment also allows parents to understand which skills and topics their students are prepared to learn next. Knowing information about a student’s learning in this uncertain time could be the key to addressing learning loss in future years.
“Since school closure, we have not had a reliable way to measure student skills in reading and math,” said Sharon Contreras, superintendent of Guilford County Schools. “Assessment is a critical part of instruction that will enable teachers to target instruction. It is imperative that we understand where students are to accelerate learning and plan for filling gaps that students may have as a result of school closure.”
This year, because of health protocols, schools will be working directly with students to administer the test in-person. Students who are currently remote are highly encouraged to test in-person, but have the ability to test remotely. Once students complete the MAP Growth assessment, they receive their scores. These scores on the MAP Growth assessment have the same meaning across grade levels and across the country, giving students an accurate assessment of how they compare to others not only in their school or grade level but across North Carolina and the United States.
Students and their families will receive more personalized information from their schools.
WFMY News 2 participated in a Q&A with the district about the test.
Q: How long will the test take?
A: They can take anywhere from 25 minutes to 55 minutes. It's adaptive so if students start getting questions wrong it would end quicker and if students keep getting harder questions right it would take a little bit longer
Q: Is this a required or optional assessment test, because standardized testing doesn’t work for all students?
A: We don’t consider this a standardized test it’s a diagnostic test and we’re asking all students {K-10} take this so we can better serve the children
Q: You want students to take this test in-person. How are you going to make that work for all families?
A: We're offering Saturdays and evenings because we have parents of students who are learning virtually who cannot take off work to bring students in during the day so we're offering evening hours and Saturday hours as a convenience to our families
Q: Why the push for in-person testing, even for those in the virtual academy this year?
A: It will give us better data. When you’re home any child can potentially look up answers or receive assistance
Q: How will GCS ensure that in-person testing is safe?
A: We are asking parents to arrange for students to take this in-person. We’re limiting the number of students in a normal size classroom to three students and if you have sibling we’ll allow students to take this with their siblings. However, there are parents who feel 'there’s no way we're bringing our children in,' and we will arrange for the assessment to be given online.
Q: Even without this test, how severe do you believe the learning loss is?
A: As we look at some of the recent information presented nationally in the news: student learning has dropped even more significantly than we know because parents are assisting students with assessments at home so we think it's probably much worse than we think
Q: What will the district do with the results of this test?
A: Students won’t be changing classes or changing teachers as a result of the assessment, what it will help is for teachers to be able to target skills. This is not graded, it is diagnostic so we don’t want parents or students to be fearful that we’re using this against children in some way. This is meant to help not only teachers and students but parents to understand where their children are academically
There are more answers to frequently asked questions on the district website.