Eden Kwan
Starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, the Measures of Academic Progression tests are administered to freshmen and sophomores during the two weeks after spring break with the purpose of gauging students’ performance and chart their academic growth over a school year.
“[Usually in] April, when we administer [testing], only the 11th and 12th graders are taking [them],” said district director of curriculum assessments Brian Simmons. “We’ve had to figure out what we were [going to do] with the other students … [We thought it would be better to] administer the MAP test at the same time.”
Unlike the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress test, where its data is used by the state to rank schools, the MAP test data is used by the teachers and the district to see each individual student’s progression.
“We were unwilling to give up more class time because we have very little with this schedule, and since we administered the first one so late in the year… we didn’t do both of them last year,” said math department head Cheri Dartnell. “This year, we administered it early for algebra and geometry classes. So really it’s a predominantly 9th and 10th grade exam only in those classes, and we’ll be administering the second one during CAASPP testing, so we don’t have to take it out of our class testing.“
There are two MAP assessments for both English and Math throughout the school year, lasting about 90 minutes each. In order to accurately chart the students’ learning growth over a period of time, the test was first administered in the fall, and second in the spring.
“[I don’t like] state testing right after spring break … because I’ve just finished relaxing, and then suddenly there’s this test, and I feel disoriented,” said freshman Kylie Shim. “Also, the testing [level] ranges from eighth grade to probably Algebra 2, and a lot of the stuff from that time was a while back. I learned [some of these concepts in] fifth grade, so I couldn’t remember it that well.”
In addition, results of the MAP testing are given immediately as the computer program already determines the student’s level.
“[Our] feeder school district, San Mateo-Foster City, has been doing [MAP testing] for a few years, and research suggests that the data from the results of the tests help teachers provide better instruction and academic growth for students,” said assistant principal David Moore. “[Instead] of doing it at different times throughout the year across [classes, our district] wanted to streamline all of our testing into one part of the school year.”
Because juniors and seniors already take the CAASPP and California Science Test to measure progress, they do not need to take the MAP test.
“[We] understand that [taking tests] is not the best thing ever, but for us … the more serious we can use it as a valid measure of where you are, [the more] we can help [students] develop,” Simmons said. “[We] need some kind of external standard verification that [students] are making progress [because] individual teachers have individual things they focus on. We want to make sure that everybody’s getting essentially a similar kind of education across the district … [and we do this] with a standardized [test].”
Furthermore, a score of 250 — the average math level for freshmen — is now one of the prerequisites for incoming freshmen to enter Compressed Math 1. This is a trial run to see if the MAP testing scores are a prerequisite that is really necessary.
For many students, it was their first time taking the MAP tests.
“I was surprised that they actually put out our scores at the end, because I’ve never got to see my score until they actually put it in our grade book in the previous times,” Shim said. “I have no objections [to this test, since it] catches me off guard right after [break, and] actually shows how I do.”
Some students feel that the test is unnecessary and the amount of time given was not adequate.
“I felt really rushed during the last few questions,” said freshman Melanie Chen. “I think it’s kind of unneeded, because if they wanted to see how well we’re doing, [they can] look at our grades, or at the other type of test scores. [It] kind of seems unnecessary, and it doesn’t really make sense why suddenly been just making us take it.”
The MAP testing will continue for the freshmen and sophomores in the two week period after spring break in following years.
