Key Takeaways from Missouri’s 2022 MAP Results
Photo by Andy Barbour
By: ashley donaldson burle
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released the 2022 Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) results this week. MAP assessments are yearly standards-based tests that measure specific skills defined by the state of Missouri. Students in grades 3-8 take MAP assessments in both English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics each year, while students in grades 5 and 8 are also assessed in science. In high school, MAP assessments are administered as end-of-course (EOC) assessments. Notably, MAP tests were not administered in 2020 due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Student performance on MAP tests is reported in terms of four performance levels: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Students performing at the Proficient level or above are considered to have mastered the skills and processes identified in the Missouri Learning Standards. In this blog, we describe key takeaways from Missouri’s 2022 MAP results in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. We find:
1. The percentage of students achieving Proficient and Advanced in ELA decreased by 2 percentage points between 2021 and 2022. This decline in proficiency contributes to a recent downward trend. The percent of students achieving Proficient and Advanced has decreased by roughly five percentage points since 2019. Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic likely impacted students’ performance.
2. The percentage of students achieving Proficient and Advanced in math increased by nearly 4 percentage points from 2021 to 2022. Between 2018 and 2021, the percentage of students achieving Proficient and Advanced declined by roughly 7 percentage points. The 2022 MAP results indicate a concept called “rebounding” occurred in math.
3. The achievement gap between Black and White students in ELA narrowed slightly (roughly 2 percentage points) between 2021 and 2022 due to more White students achieving lower proficiency levels. In 2021, 21% of Black students achieved Proficient and Advanced in ELA, while 51% of White students achieved the same proficiency, a difference of 30 percentage points. In 2022, the percentage of Black students achieving Proficient and Advanced was relatively the same, while White students experienced a roughly 2 percentage point decline. The achievement gap in 2022 in ELA was 28 percentage points.
4. The achievement gap between Black and White students in math remained the same (31 percentage points) between 2021 and 2022. In 2021, 11% of Black students achieved Proficient and Advanced in math, while 42% of White students achieved the same proficiency, a difference of 31 percentage points. In 2022, the percentage of Black students achieving Proficient and Advanced increased to 14%, while 45% of White students achieved Proficient and Advanced.
Conclusion
Missouri’s 2022 MAP assessment results indicate declines in ELA performance but show rebounding in math performance. While the achievement gap in ELA narrowed slightly, this was driven by a decline in White student performance. Overall, the Black and White achievement gap in ELA and math remains wide. Importantly, these results provide snapshots of point-in-time achievement but do not provide information about student growth over time, which we believe is a better measure of student progress and school effectiveness. We encourage education stakeholders to view MAP grade-level assessment results in combination with Growth Scores to have the clearest picture of students’ status and progress.
