MSAD 15 Assessments
- NWEA
- It is an achievement scale.
- It is an accurate scale.
- It is an equal interval scale.
- It helps to measure growth over time.
- It has the same meaning regardless of grade or age of the student.
- MEA
- Grade Level/Course
Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) is an assessment administered twice a year in grades 3 through 10. NWEA assessments in reading and mathematics are computer-adaptive assessments that take approximately one hour each to complete. There are two types of scores that you may encounter when reviewing your child’s score: RIT and Lexile.
RIT
The RIT Scale is a curriculum scale that uses individual item difficulty values to estimate student achievement. An advantage of the RIT scale is that it can relate the numbers on the scale directly to the difficulty of items on the tests. In addition, the RIT scale is an equal interval scale. Equal interval means that the difference between scores is the same regardless of whether a student is at the top, bottom, or middle of the RIT scale, and it has the same meaning regardless of grade level.
RIT scales, like scales underlying most educational tests, are built from data about the performance of individual examinees on individual items. The theory governing scale construction is called Item Response Theory (IRT). NWEA uses a specific IRT model conceived by Danish mathematician, Georg Rasch, (1901-1980). Rasch is best known for his contributions to psychometrics, and his model is used extensively in assessment in education, particularly for skill attainment and cognitive assessments.
Characteristics of the RIT Scale include:
NWEA
Parent Toolkit
Lexile
The Lexile Framework for Reading is a scientific approach to reading measurement that matches readers to text. The Lexile Framework measures both reader ability and text difficulty on the same scale, called the Lexile scale. This approach allows educators to manage reading comprehension and encourage reader progress using Lexile measures and a broad range of Lexile products, tools and services.
As the most widely adopted reading measure in use today, Lexiles give educators the confidence to choose materials that will improve student reading skills across the curriculum and at home. Tens of thousands of books and tens of millions of articles have Lexile measures, hundreds of publishers Lexile their materials and all major standardized tests can report student reading scores in Lexiles. Additional information about lexiles can be found at: www.lexile.com
The Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) is a State of Maine required assessment, which is used to monitor student achievement to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The MEA is administered in grades 3-8 each March. Students are tested in reading and mathematics in all grades 3-8. Science is added in grades 4 & 8 writing is added in grades 5 & 8. In addition, 11th grade students are required to take the SAT in May of each year. It is the responsibility of the school district to ensure that at least 95% of students take part in the MEA. If your child is going to be absent from school during the March or May testing periods it is important for you to contact the school principal in advance of the testing so that a make up time can be planned for your child(ren).
Each grade level K-12 has identified common grade level or course assessments. These assessments inform the staff of student progress as well as help the school district with identifying students who may be struggling and in need of additional support.
