MAP Growth norms taxonomy: ten norms per subject, level, and grade, spanning achievement, within-year growth, and between-year growth¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The manual organizes MAP Growth norms as a taxonomy producing "10 distinct norms for a given subject,level, and grade". Achievement norms (A–C) give cross-sectional Fall, Winter, and Spring percentiles of RIT scores; within-year growth norms (D–F) describe season-to-season change within a single school year; and between-year growth norms (G–J) describe change across adjacent grades. Growth percentiles are conditional on starting RIT, weeks of instruction, subject, and grade. The framework rests on a two-level mixed-effects piecewise model with repeated RIT scores nested within students, requiring two consecutive grades of data.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Repeated RIT scores for students over two grades are required to produce a model capable of supporting all 10 norms

Constraints¶

• The highest grades covered (Grade 12 Mathematics/Reading, Grade 11 Language Usage, Grade 10 Science) support only focal-grade growth norms

Target Learners¶

• U.S. public school students in grades K–12

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Interpreting achievement and growth scores in reading, mathematics, language usage, and science relative to national peers

Claims¶

• Piecewise Model Lowest Deviance Majority Conditions Map Norms [+M]
• The 2025 MAP Growth norms adopted a two-year, two-level piecewise mixed-effects design because two consecutive years of data are sufficient for within-year and adjacent-year growth norms [+W]

Related Theories¶

• Model-based multivariate true score norming procedure
• Piecewise multilevel growth modeling of seasonal learning patterns
• RIT vertical equal-interval scale grounded in item response theory

Examples¶

• 2025 MAP Growth norms update with Enhanced Item Selection Algorithm (EISA) alignment
• 2025 MAP Growth Achievement and Growth Norms dataset and norms tables

Key Sources¶

• 2025 MAP Growth Norms Technical Manual. (2025). HMH Education Company / NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/2025-map-growth-norms-technical-manual/