In general, students should take the test appropriate to their grade. A high performing 5th grader should take the 2-5 test. Similarly, a low performing 6th grader should take the 6+ test. Additionally, we do not recommend switching tests mid-year.
Lower-performing students in grades 6+
Most items on the 2-5 test are included on the 6+ test, so the lower-performing 6th grade students can take the 6+ test.
Higher performing students in grade 5
The MAP Growth 2-5 test also includes some of the items (the logical, content extensions) from the 6+ test to account for high performing students. We're careful to only include the logical extensions and avoid content that we know a 5th grader who is high performing is not likely to have seen yet. If a 5th grade student takes the 6+ test, it is very likely that they would see a lot of content that they have not become familiar with yet. This would likely impact the student's score.
Having said that, the very nature of a MAP Growth test mitigates the effect of seeing something for which there has been no instruction. Typically, students will miss about 50% of the questions as our algorithm hones in on their final RIT score. The problem would be if the student saw too many items for which they had not had at least foundational instruction.
The key questions in deciding between 2-5 and 6+ for an advanced student would be:
- Has the student already tested during this academic year? We do not recommend switching tests mid-year.
- Has the instruction been accelerated or enriched at all?
- How nimble is the student in dealing with new contexts?
- How likely is it that the 2-5 test will not produce an accurate score because the student is so advanced?
Gifted students may have an intuitive grasp of math concepts and, since the test is not timed, they may actually figure some things out on their own. With proper preparation of the student before the test, making sure the student knows what to expect in terms of seeing things they haven't seen before, they may take the 6+ test. In general, though, nearly all students in grades 2-5 will be well-served by a 2-5 test.
