March 10, 2016
JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) has released abbreviated practice tests for the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP), which is the new statewide assessment for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics for grades 3-8 and high school Algebra I and English II.
MAP was specifically developed for Mississippi to accurately measure student mastery of the Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards. Mississippi educators participated in the development of MAP to help identify students’ strengths and areas for improvement to ensure they on track for the next grade and eventually, college and career.
MAP assesses critical thinking and problem-solving and goes beyond multiple-choice questions to get a deeper understanding of students’ learning. With the exception of the writing portion of the ELA test, students will take the MAP test on a computer.
“MAP is aligned to the Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards, so what students have been learning throughout the school year has been preparing them for these tests,” said Dr. J.P. Beaudoin, chief research and development officer for the MDE. “Good teaching will always be the best method of preparing students for success, whether that’s success on the MAP assessment or being prepared for the next grade.”
While no single test can give a complete picture of achievement, MAP is one of many measures, including student grades and teacher reports, that combined, provide a complete picture about student progress.
The MAP practice tests, called “testlets,” are intended to familiarize students at each grade level with the types of questions they will see on the MAP assessment. School districts will schedule MAP tests during the assessment window of April 25- May 17, 2016.
The MAP ELA and Mathematics practice tests are posted on the MDE website.
MAP test blueprints, which contain information about individual tests including the number and types of items and the standards they measure, are also posted on the MDE website
Media Contact:
Patrice Guilfoyle, APR
Director of Communications
601-359-3706
Jean Cook, APR
Communications Specialist
601-359-3519