Last month the State Department of Education released the Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) results.

Since this is a new report, it is important to understand exactly what it means. With this in mind, I asked Dr. Krueger, director of TUSD's Planning and Assessment department to provide perspective on the scoring used in determining "star" ratings.

The following information is designed to help you understand the MAP results and also to assist you in talking about the ratings with parents, colleagues and neighbors.

Understanding Your Measurement of Academic Progress Results

• Both measures are for one year of growth on the Stanford 9.
• Both measures use same-school, same-student data only.
• The star rating is growth/change relative to all other Arizona schools at the same grade level in the same subject area.
• The star rating only looks at growth in scores, not at a schools' actual percentile/NCE level.
• The star rating goes from one to five. A one means a school's growth is in the bottom 20 percent of all Arizona schools, while a five indicates growth in the top 20 percent of all Arizona schools.
• The star rating should be interpreted in the context of both previous years' gains and actual percentile/NCE levels.
• The "One Year Growth" (Yes/No) measure is based on the national norm group.
• A "Yes" on the One Year Growth rating means that a school maintained approximately the same percentile/NCE level from one year to the next.
• The One Year Growth rating more accurately reflects a school's actual performance than the star rating.

Please take the time to understand the information presented above. We have the opportunity to make the ratings understandable for the public at large.

As professional educators we can provide the context for those grades and continue to generate support for our public schools.