This is the technical appendix for the NWEA research brief titled, “Behind at the Starting Line,” which examines Kindergarten test scores from more than 400,000 U.S. students and noting patterns that can predict academic success or identify students at risk of falling further behind. This early identification is key for educators, enabling them to intervene and influence learning trajectories before the next critical milestone: third grade.

NWEA research brief examining Kindergarten test scores from more than 400,000 U.S. students and noting patterns that can predict academic success or identify students at risk of falling further behind. This early identification is key for educators, enabling them to intervene and influence learning trajectories before the next critical milestone: third grade.

This white paper examines the landscape of middle school science course offerings, enrollment patterns, and assessment outcomes. The analysis of data from 2,200 schools finds that multi-disciplinary course models now dominate versus single-course offerings, though access to course types varies by race and ethnicity. In addition, students in different course models performed similarly on assessments.

This guide offers recommendations for how to understand what differences may exist when looking at data for student groups, and gives leaders some structure for how they might consider and interpret those differences.

This technical report presents achievement and growth norms for Spanish MAP Reading Fluency Foundational Skills (grades K–3), enabling educators to interpret student performance and progress in early literacy domains relative to national peer groups.

This technical report outlines the design, scoring, reliability, and validity of the Spanish MAP Reading Fluency assessment, demonstrating how it measures foundational skills and oral reading fluency to support early literacy development.

This technical addendum report is written to help measurement professionals and administrators evaluate the quality of the MAP Growth’s Spanish assessments.