NWEA Assessment Resources

Monroe County ISD (MCISD) is pleased to provide support to county educators using the NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) assessments. MCISD consultants Kathy Berry and Tammy Gardner provide training and other support to local district staff as well as to MCISD educators. Please contact Kathy (Assessment Coordinator) or Tammy (Special Education Consultant) if you may have questions about NWEA in Monroe County.

NWEA assessments are on-line computer-adaptive tests which are available nationally. Students typically take NWEA assessments two or three times each school year in Reading, Mathematics, Language, and/or Science. Each district decides which NWEA assessments its students will take and the dates they will assess the students – generally sometime in the fall, winter, and spring. Students may use computers in computer labs, laptops in the classroom, iPads, Chromebooks, and other devices to access the tests. Tests are self-paced, meaning students take as much time as they may need to complete the test questions. Most students complete one subject’s testing in 30-60 minutes. “Computer-Adaptive” means that each test is adjusted to each student as he or she is taking the test. Students who show they can do more challenging work are provided more advanced or challenging questions as they answer these questions correctly. Students who may struggle to answer questions at a particular level are provided questions at levels more appropriate to their ability. This adjusting up and down throughout the test allows the NWEA assessments to provide a customized picture of each individual student’s performance. Reports from these assessments are greatly beneficial to teachers whose classes often have a wide range of student performance levels and abilities. This customization is helpful to parents and students as well, as they can readily see where the student is performing, whether above, below, or at grade level.

NWEA provides a number of resources for educators to assist in interpreting student and class scores, and to provide guidance for each student’s next steps in learning. By assessing multiple time a year, year after year, a unique learning profile develops for each student. Teachers, parents, and students can use this information to celebrate successes, to identify next steps in coursework, and to set clear goals for student learning.

The resources below gave been gathered to help answer a number of questions regarding the NWEA assessments, especially those around administering the assessments and interpreting the results.

What are NWEA Assessments?

NWEA’s Website – Homepage

About NWEA

Assessments offered by NWEA

MAP® Demonstrations – Learn about Measures of Academic Progress® assessments

Resources for Educators

DestinationPD – This is your one-stop shop for online learning from NWEA. If you already have a Knowledge Academy account, you can use that email address and password to access Destination PD resources.

NOTE: For access, educators will need an account created for them by their district DestinationPD administrator.

NWEA Help Center: Using MAP – NWEA’s help system has been revised, and will be updated again in 2016. Visit the Help Center for:

Help for Proctors
Educator Help Center with information on MAP Reports, Learning Continuum skills; MAP Primary Grades; and Data Export/Corrections information
NWEA MAP Administration support, including set-up and technology guides

NOTE: You will need to log in with your NWEA account to access these features.

Poway Unified School District Lexile Resources and Tools

DesCartes: A Continuum of Learning® Explained – Overview of the DesCartes system of aligning specific content and skills to RIT scores

DesCartes Curriculum Ladders – from For The Teachers

RIT Scores Correlated to Khan Academy Practice Exercises

NWEA College Readiness Linking Study (January 2012)