If El Dorado Middle School sounds familiar, it might be because we keep sharing what they’ve learned on the road to success in using MAP® Skills™:
Now, the results are in, and MAP Skills is having a huge impact on student growth and achievement. Says Vickie Boss, eighth-grade science teacher: “We’ve helped kids improve their skills by three or four grade levels within a year.” In fact, students have shown improvement on their state assessments and MAP® Growth™ tests with 73 percent of students increasing their MAP Growth scores from fall to winter. As Principal Karla King states:
How did they get started? El Dorado piloted MAP Skills with eighth grade students and teachers the first year. The next year, they expanded MAP Skills use to sixth and seventh grades, making it fully implemented across all grades. Teachers first analyze MAP Growth data to find the lowest instructional areas; then, they select a single strand to focus on in each subject. This year, the focus was on number sense and language usage – two key areas of need. After assigning a Skills Locator test in the focus strands, they group students by missing skills and provide targeted instruction. Finally, they re-test using Mastery Checks within MAP Skills. El Dorado repeats this process until every student masters the skills that they were missing.
In Kansas, the state mandates that educators provide targeted, individualized instruction for all students. As part of their individualized instruction plans, El Dorado teachers have 23 minutes each day for math and reading intervention. With MAP Skills, they can use this time to focus on the skills students need. Being able to see the progression of skills—and having access to supplemental resources—has also been helpful for teachers at El Dorado, all of whom are required to teach math and reading intervention.
Teachers also provide an individual data sheet for each student. Allowing the students to track their own progress helps them understand which skills they’ve mastered, what they need to work on, and why they’re in certain groups.
While empowering students to monitor their own learning, MAP Skills has enabled teachers to move students forward. In addition to 73 percent of students increasing their MAP Growth scores, all grades exceeded state benchmarks in language usage after implementation. As teacher Kirstie Towner concludes:
For more information MAP Skills, visit our website, or download the El Dorado Middle School case study.
