Agenda Item
a. Approval of Renewal of Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment Systems for 2024-2025 (Not to exceed $2,400,000)
Summary: Presented by: Dr. Markisha Mitchell, Chief, Accountability & Continuous Improvement, Division of Accountability & Continuous Improvement
Request: It is requested that the Board of Education approve the renewal of the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment for the 2024-2025 school year in an amount not to exceed $2,400,000.00.
The requested purchase is an assessment expenditure that does not require bid per the District’s Purchasing Board Policy (DJE). It is aligned with Strategic Goal Area 1: Student Success with Equity and Access.
CHRONOLOGY:
8-year partnership with NWEA. The 2024-2025 school year is the 9th year.
2023-2024 cost was 1,300,000.00
Increase in cost is due to the addition of Reading Fluency for grades K-3, additional professional learning for all schools, versus just Horizon schools in previous years and the universal screener for dyslexia.
Why: The DeKalb County School District currently utilizes Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) as a formative assessment in grades K-10 in Reading, Language Usage, Mathematics, and Science. Added this year is Reading Fluency for grades K-3. MAP will also serve as the district’s universal screener for dyslexia, it will be used to identify gifted and magnet students, as well as provide supplemental student achievement data to guide Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) at the school level.
The district requires an assessment that:
Is Diagnostic (measures student growth and identifies students in need of additional support)
Provides students with an online learning path/continuum based upon students’ assessment results
Allows the District to compare student performance against other students nationally to determine growth and mastery percentile gaps (this is particularly important for our subgroups)
Allows the District to determine students level of mastery based on state standards and learning criteria (i.e., success criteria and learning targets) through the use of RIT scores
Can be used as a predictor towards proficiency on the GA Milestones, SAT and ACT
Provides easy to understand data at the district and school level and individual student reports
In preparation for the 2024-2025 school year, the requested renewal is to permit the DeKalb County School District to enter into a continued agreement with NWEA to offer district-wide licenses for MAP assessments and to provide professional learning services to ensure all staff build efficiency in the instructional application of assessment data.
This concludes this item and if there are no questions, we ask that this item be placed on the consent agenda.
Details: This proposed budget item is requesting funds not to exceed $2,400,000 to cover the costs associated with the District renewal of the NWEA MAP assessment system and professional learning services.
NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is a suite of assessments that deliver data to make a difference in student progress. MAP Growth measures areas related to the Georgia Standards of Excellence in RIT (Rausch Unit) scores. As a result, educators can easily measure growth in learning through the school year, and from year-to-year in Reading, Math, Language Usage, and Science, which also affords educators the capability to differentiate instruction based on the tool’s functionalities. The tool is built on one of the most robust normative scales in the United States.
MAP assessments are computer-adaptive tests that increase in rigor as students answer items correctly. When a student incorrectly answers a question, the test becomes less difficult to match the next test item with the student’s academic aptitude. Therefore, a student takes an assessment created explicitly for his or her learning level. In addition, MAP Skills provides each student with his/her own specific learning path that identifies skill gaps and provides activities to help students master specific foundational skills.
Financial impact: The financial impact is an amount, not to exceed, $2,400,000.00 for FY25. The purchase amount will be paid using general funds budgeted to the Division of Accountability and Continuous Improvement Department of Assessment Administration charge code:
100.1000.530010.00011.7540.9990.8010.030.0000
Contact: Dr. Markisha Mitchell, Chief, Accountability & Continuous Improvement, Division of Accountability & Continuous Improvement, 678-676-0300
Dr. Felicia G. Rhone, Director, Assessment Administration, Division of Accountability & Continuous Improvement, 678-676-0300
Effective: July 2024
Status: Approved by Legal Counsel