The Impact of the Measures of Academic Progress on Differentiated Instruction and Student Achievement

Regional need and study purpose. Effective differentiation of instruction based on readiness and learning profiles requires a valid descriptive data set at the classroom level. While teachers may use their own student-level assessments to monitor learning, it is challenging to use performance on classroom measures to assess likely performance on statewide tests or nationally normed standardized tests. School practitioners view benchmark measures reflective of such external tests as potentially more valid in making differentiated instruction decisions. A widely used system incorporating benchmark assessment and training is the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) program, but there are very few studies of its effects on student outcomes.

Intervention description. The MAP program is a collection of computer-adaptive assessments in reading, language usage, mathematics, and science for students in pre-grade 3 to grade 10, used by schools to monitor student progress toward state proficiency standards. This study uses experimental design to assess the effectiveness of the MAP program and its associated teacher training, asking whether the MAP intervention—teacher training plus benchmark testing feedback—affects the reading achievement of grade 4 students.

Study design and period. The study uses a cluster-randomized design to randomly assign 174 grade 4 and 5 classroom teachers in 32 schools in Illinois as a grade-level group to either receive the MAP program or to conduct business as usual. The study will collect data on teachers and students in grades 4 and 5 during the 2008/09 and 2009/10 school years. Confirmatory analyses will be restricted to grade 4 students' performance after the second year of implementation.

Key outcomes and measures. The reading performance of students in both intervention and control classrooms will be assessed with the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) in spring 2009 and spring 2010. A composite measure of reading and language usage from the spring 2009 and 2010 administrations of the MAP will provide the post-test measure. Data on teachers will be collected to measure fidelity of implementation, using instructional logs and student engagement surveys for a sample of eight students in each classroom, observations of teachers' instruction, and principal and teacher surveys.

Data collection approach. Student outcome data include annual (spring 2009 and spring 2010) student assessment results on the ISAT in reading and on MAP tests in reading and language usage. Data on teachers will also be collected to measure fidelity of implementation.

Analysis plan. The effects of MAP on student achievement will be estimated from grade 4 data in year two, after teachers have used MAP for a full academic year. Analyses of year one grade 4 and 5 data and year two grade 5 data will be exploratory only (and reported separately). To account for variance in the outcome measure at multiple levels, hierarchical linear modeling will be used to determine impacts on student outcomes. Students will be nested in schools, allowing the study to account for variance between students within and across schools.

Principal investigators. David Cordray, Vanderbilt University; Georgine Pion, Vanderbilt University; Matt Dawson, Learning Point Associates; and W. Christopher Brandt, Learning Point Associates.

Additional Information. Region, contact information, and references.

Click here for full printable version