What is NWEA?
NWEA stands for Northwest Evaluation Association. It is a not-for-profit organization whose research-based assessments, professional development, and alliances with researchers and community groups support educators in the U.S. and beyond. Their flagship product, Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Interim Assessments, provides educators with research-based data that inform and advance student learning on Common Core standards. You can learn more about NWEA at NWEA.org
What is a MAP Assessment?
MAP stands for Measures of Academic Progress. It is a computer adaptive interim assessment from NWEA used by educators across the world to measure student academic growth and achievement. MAP is a cross-grade assessment; it adapts to each student’s learning level rather than only measuring answers to grade level questions. Using MAP three times a year—in the fall, winter and spring— allows teachers to use MAP data to differentiate instruction during the school year. Each student’s performance on the test is measured by his or her RIT score for each skill.
What is an RIT score?
MAP assessments use an equal-interval scale known as the RIT scale (for Rasch Unit) to measure student achievement and growth. The RIT scale, based on Item Response Theory, was developed by NWEA over 30 years ago and is a proven, stable scale for educational assessment. The RIT scales are continuous across grades, making them ideal to study student achievement and growth both within a school year and across many years. The RIT value of a test item is obtained using a rigorous calibration process in which each item is field tested with thousands of students across the nation. Student responses on these items are used to generate a final RIT score for each student. The numerical (RIT) value assigned to a student represents the level of test item complexity at which he or she is capable of answering correctly about 50% of the time. It is simply the most accurate way to pinpoint a student’s readiness for new concepts.
What is a Comprehensive Data File?
The Comprehensive Data File (CDF) is the file that NWEA provides to your district or school with your MAP assessment results. It breaks down the RIT scores for each student for each goal and the set of skills associated with that goal.
Prepare Your NWEA MAP CDF Upload File
Your district team will work with our internal teams to load the following data. If you have any questions, please contact customer support.
1. Create your Comprehensive Data File from the NWEA Dashboard. If you need instructions, please reference the linked document: NWEA Guide to Dashboard Reports
2. Save the CDF file to your computer as a .csv file.
NWEA Manaul (CDF) RIT Import
1. Click the menu button at the top left of your dashboard:
2. Under “DISTRICT EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT INTEGRATION” select “Manual (CDF) Import”
3. Select your school, attach the file, and click Submit. Once the file has processed, please review and either accept or deny the import. If you need further assistance uploading your file, please do not hesitate to reach out to support@achieve3000.com and we would be happy to help!
Generating the Informed Learning Path:
You district team must complete the steps mentioned above to access reporting.
1. Log in to your Achieve3000 Teacher’s Edition.
2. Open the menu (≡) and select Student Reports from the Data Center section.
3. Click the blue arrow to expand Performance Reports
4. Select the report titled How can I differentiate my instruction based on NWEA MAP assessment results?