NWEA: New "Cut Points" Chart for 2021/22
What is it, and how do I use it?
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Hello! I’m...
Jessica Lange Brar
Coordinator, Assessment & Evaluation
I’ve worked in the district for 18.5 years, and have been a teacher, a teacher leader, and I spent years as a site administrator.
I’m excited to support teaching and learning districtwide --especially around all things assessment.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Today’s Presentation Topics:
How do you use it?
Why is it so different?
Looking at your class report in light of the updated reference (“cut points”) chart.
What is the new cut points chart?
SLIDESMANIA.COM
A couple of facts first:
What is a RIT Score anyway?
RIT comes from an Item Response Theory (IRT) model conceived by Danish mathematician, Georg Rasch, (1901-1980).
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Did you know?
NWEA Map Growth is a Norm-Referenced Test
SLIDESMANIA.COM
01
Let’s dig in and examine it together. You’ll notice some differences!
Here is the new “cut points” chart.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Layout:
⓵→ The LEFT side has Achievement Mean
⓶→ The RIGHT side has the Growth Mean
⓷→ The top charts are READING
⓸ →The bottom charts are MATH
SLIDESMANIA.COM
...on the back
⓹→ Language charts are at the top
⓺→ followed by some context for the data and links to references
⓻→ At the end there is the explanation and example of Standard Deviation (SD)
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Did you know?
Standard Deviation is the distribution of average scores--like a bell curve.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
02
How do you use the “Achievement Mean?”
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Let’s use 2nd Grade as an example:
Find your grade level from the rows, and follow it right until you get to the right test session (fall/winter/spring)
Koalas are even more lazy than cats.
It is estimated that more than 50 million kangaroos live there. They are Australia’s national symbol and appear on postage stamps, coins, and airplanes.
Koalas don’t have much energy and, when not feasting on leaves, they spend their time dozing in the branches. Believe it or not, they can sleep for up to 18 hours a day!
You will see a RIT Score that represents the mathematical mean of all student scores.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
How do you use the Mean and Standard Deviation?
Where are the cut points?
181.2
?
15.05
By how much is it higher or lower? The closer to 181.2 it is, the more average the student’s achievement is.
Is the average RIT score of all 2nd graders.
Is your student’s RIT score higher or lower than that?
Is the Standard Deviation for all 2nd graders in the nation. That means that 68% of all 2nd graders scores fall either 15 points above, or 15 points below the average RIT. Is your student’s score within that range?
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Informing the Report Card…
...and informing instruction, conferences, progress reports, etc.
If the student’s RIT is ABOVE the Mean
If the student’s RIT is BELOW the Mean
If the student’s RIT is CLOSE to the Mean
The student is scoring higher than most 2nd graders in the nation.
If they are above even the Standard Deviation--15 or more points above the Mean RIT of 181--then they are doing exceptionally well, and are out-scoring most of their peers.
The student is scoring average. They are right on track compared to their peers.
It would be a reasonable inference to claim that the student’s skills are proficient in this subject area.
The student is scoring lower than most of their peers.
If they are below even the Standard Deviation--15 or more points below the Mean RIT of 181--then they their achievement is significantly behind most of their peers.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Is having the “Mean RIT” the same as being “proficient?”
Not exactly...
Having the Mean RIT means that a student’s RIT score is average when compared to her peers. It is literally the mathematical average of all students’ scores at the grade level.
To claim a student is “proficient” on the assessment we would have to be placing the student’s RIT score on a scale that was aligned to a set of standards that had a cut point for where “proficient” is. NWEA doesn’t have that.
Instead, NWEA compares RIT scores to the scores of peers, not a standard. This means that the term “proficient” isn’t the right fit when describing student achievement on NWEA.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
...but a student’s RIT score can predict whether or not a student will be “proficient” on our state tests,
with about 80% accuracy.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
NWEA and SBAC Proficiency Projections
The Level 3 cut score demarks the minimum level of achievement (minimum RIT score) projected to be proficient on the CA Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium tests (SBAC). .
The overall classification accuracy rate ranges from 80% to 86% for ELA/reading and 82% to 91% for mathematics. These values suggest that the RIT cut scores are good at projecting students to be proficient or not proficient on the CA SBAC summative assessment.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Additional Resources
What is the MAP Growth Test? How does it help me as a teacher?
How do I figure out what the level of difficulty is for each RIT Score? Can I see sample questions for each RIT score?
What concepts are assessed at each RIT level? How do I match a RIT score with what is assessed?
How is NWEA Map aligned to the standards we have in California?
→ California MAP Growth Linking Study Report
SLIDESMANIA.COM
03
Why is it so different?
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Historically we’ve thought of NWEA’s MAP Growth
as if it were a
Standards-Based Assessment,
such as SBAC. We internally created cut point scores as a reference for NHUSD teachers. And it was helpful!
We made our own decisions as to where the boundaries of “Below” “Approaching” “Proficient” and “Mastery” were, and used them as guideposts. (NWEA does not release “cut points” aligned to those four levels from the standards.)
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Thinking of NWEA as a standards-based assessment can prevent us from really understanding the test results.
For example: Have you ever asked yourself why the Class Report splits the scores into five performance bands (quintiles) instead of four (quartiles), like the state standards do? And found it frustrating?
Have you ever wondered what all that “extra” information at the top of your Class Reports is? And wondered why they put all that seemingly unimportant information there?
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Looking at student data through the lens of a norms-based assessment--which NWEA is--should help the test scores, data and information make more sense.
Although it’s a shift, once we’re used to it, the information should be more useful to teachers when thinking about NWEA scores and their meanings.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
And finally, in a year where we know many students’ achievement levels may be lower than is typical to start with, it will be even more important to measure the “learning leaps” they make this year.
Thinking about NWEA scores as a comparative measure will help us see if students are growing at a normal pace, or if they’re growing faster than average.
For students whose achievement starts further behind their peers, we know those students need to grow faster than average to catch up to their peers.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
04
Looking at a Class Report through the lens of a norm-based assessment
SLIDESMANIA.COM
These are for just your class
SLIDESMANIA.COM
SLIDESMANIA.COM
What is the “Growth Mean” and how do I use that?
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Stay tuned!
Another presentation with that information will follow soon.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
NWEA has a great help system!
Need help?
When you are on NWEA.org, you can click on “Help” in the upper right corner.
The Help article that pops up is specific to the page you were on!
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Thank you!
Do you have any questions?
Jessica Lange Brar
jlange@nhusd.k12.ca.us
510-476-2612
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Credits.
Presentation Template: SlidesMania
Images: Unsplash
Fonts used in this presentation: Patrick Hand and Comfortaa
SLIDESMANIA.COM
Free themes and templates for Google Slides or PowerPoint
NOT to be sold as is or modified!
Read FAQ on slidesmania.com
Do not remove the slidesmania.com text on the sides.
Sharing is caring!
SLIDESMANIA.COM