MAP Snapshot: Measures of Academic Progress
The Advent School uses the MAP, or Measures of Academic Progress Growth Test to assess the academic achievement and growth of its students. Students first take the test in the spring of third grade, then again in the fall and spring of grades four and five. (Since the Boston Public Schools use MAP scores for admission to exam schools, sixth-graders applying to those schools take city-administered MAPs in the fall of grade six.)
“Far from teaching to any test, Advent’s Reggio-inspired approach taps into children’s natural curiosity to motivate their learning. Our students’ success on the MAP assessment reflects the effectiveness of this approach.”
The MAP test is a widely used assessment, taken by over 16 million students in 149 countries. It is a highly regarded tool because, first, it is adaptive and so offers highly specific measures of students’ strengths and weaknesses in the areas of reading, mathematics, and language use, and because it tracks their growth over multiple administrations. Because it is adaptive, it is not a test that one can teach to, but, more than many other test, gauges the level of students’ deeper command of various reading, math, and language skills.
In 2025, Advent fifth-graders in their fall testing showed impressive results. In reading, math, and language the median percentiles were, respectively, 92nd, 96th, and 92nd.
On the reading portion of the test, 100% of students scored above the national average, and 80% demonstrated accelerated (fast or fast average) growth.
In math, 96% of students scored above the national average, and 75% demonstrated accelerated (fast or fast average) growth.
In language usage, 100% scored above the national average, and 59% showed accelerated growth.
These medians will vary from class to class, but the trajectory of accelerated growth is a constant among our students.
Far from teaching to any test, Advent’s Reggio-inspired approach taps into children’s natural curiosity to motivate their learning: Rigor and understanding are an outcome of their interest in and engagement with the material. Our students’ success on the MAP assessment reflects the effectiveness of this approach, one of which we are proud.
