Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)

The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment is taken on a computer and typically requires about an hour each for math and reading. The assessment measures a student’s developing skills through a series of questions that adapt to the child’s level of learning. 

Research on MAP indicates the results are highly accurate and predictive (in graded test levels) of proficiency on the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA). The results also help teachers measure growth and determine whether a student may need more support or more challenge. The results also may be a factor in Advanced Learning eligibility determinations.

2025 MAP Norms

During the summer of 2025, NWEA MAP updated its norms and retroactively updated MAP outcomes for the three previous academic years. The last MAP norm update was in 2020. “The data used to produce the MAP Growth norms were sampled from 116 million scores of 13.8 million students across 30,000 schools spanning six testing terms from fall 2022 to spring 2024. “MAP Growth continues to report scores on the same RIT scale — but the reference group has changed. In general, a RIT score now [aligns] to a different percentile than it did under the 2020 norms (Norms Overview and Toolkit)” 

Changes to the 2025 Norms:

• Overall shifts in achievement: The national distribution of achievement has shifted downward and become more variable. This mirrors findings from COVID-related research, which show that the pandemic negatively impacted student performance—especially among students who were already lower-achieving.
• Larger shifts at the lower end of the distribution: Normative percentiles declined more sharply below the median than above it, particularly in reading and language usage.
• Subject-specific changes in growth: Growth norms vary by subject. Reading and language usage show lower typical growth, consistent with national post-COVID trends. In contrast, math growth norms are higher, especially in early grades, due to improvements in the MAP Growth algorithm (EISA).

MAP Resources

• The Family Guide to MAP Growth is a quick resource you can use to introduce your students’ families to the assessment process and how you’ll be using data to support learning.
  • English Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Amharic Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Arabic Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Chinese Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Japanese Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Korean Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Russian Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Spanish Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Somali Family Guide to MAP Growth
  • Vietnamese Family Guide to MAP Growth

• Read more about the assessment in the Parent Toolkit portion of the  Northwest Evaluation Association’s website
• Questions? Contact  MAPadmin@seattleschools.org