District 203 Changes Assessment System

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Naperville School District 203 is revising its assessment practices.

The Board of Education adopted a three-year contract with Northwest Evaluation Association, or NWEA, for their MAP Growth assessment.

This benchmark literacy and numeracy assessment system for students in kindergarten through eighth grade will replace the performance series assessment, which 203 has looked to replace for over a year.

“This seemed like the time to move toward something a bit more contemporary, that led itself toward supporting our improvements, with respect to school improvement plans, understanding students growth, and just moving in a direction with an assessment system that’s an evolving system. There’s a lot of strength with this product,” explained Patrick Nolten, the assistant superintendent for assessment and accountability at District 203.

Administration also says MAP Growth will be better in predicting and measuring student performance and improvement, especially on key assessments like the SAT.

Implementation of MAP Growth will begin in the 2019-2020 academic year.

And 203 parents may also like to know that the board passed the pilot breakfast program, which will begin at four schools this February.

Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.