Battle Creek Times

Battle Creek Central High School issued the following announcement.

Testing for remote and Virtual Academy students K–8 to take place between January 4 and January 26.

During the coming weeks, BCPS will be administering the state-required NWEA MAP Growth Tests for all students in grades K–8. By now, students should be familiar with this assessment, which is given at the start of each school year beginning in kindergarten. With students learning remotely or through the Virtual Academy this year, things will look a little different than in years past. Testing for all BCPS students in grades K-8 will take place between January 4 and January 26, 2021. Both remote learners and Virtual Academy students will be taking the tests online, administered by their teachers.

*Please note, students in grades 9–12 will not be taking the NWEA MAP Assessment.

More Information

• Bearcat Bytes: NWEA MAP Help Video for Grades 6-12
• Bearcat Bytes: Video de ayuda de NWEA MAP para los grados 6-12
• NWEA MAP Testing for K-5 Virtual Families Presentation (PDF)
• NWEA MAP Testing for K-5 Virtual & Remote Families Presentation (Video) Con interpretación al español

This test helps provide educators with an honest assessment of each student’s understanding in reading and math so that we can better support their growth throughout the year. The test does not affect your student’s grades, but it is important for them to try their hardest so that we can get an accurate assessment of their progress. If you are experiencing connectivity issues with a BCPS-issued device, please contact our Helpdesk team at helpdesk@battlecreekpublicschools.org.

We know that “virtual” testing is not ideal, but we have a plan in place to ensure accurate testing and provide you and your student with support. Testing will take around one to two hours total and will be monitored by one of your student’s teachers, who have been specially trained on how to administer these tests. We recommend having a parent or caregiver stay nearby during testing to help out with any potential technology issues, particularly for younger students. But parents and family members should not help students answer questions during the test and will not be required to be present during testing. We will use the results of these tests to make sure the right supports or enrichment opportunities are in place academically for all students, so it is very important not to help your child with any test answers. Below are other ways that you can support your student to ensure the ideal testing environment.

BEFORE TEST DAY:

• Make sure your student’s device meets the testing requirements here.
• Help your student practice the test at practice.mapnwea.org (Username: grow; Password: grow).
• For families with a K-5 student: Watch the recording of our K–5 NWEA MAP Testing information session.

ON TEST DAY:

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet or to a hotspot.
• Make sure your student’s Chromebook or device is fully charged before testing begins.
• Close any unnecessary browsers, tabs and programs to ensure the testing program can run smoothly.
• Disable pop-up blocking on the internet browser.
• Help your student log into the testing platform (teachers will provide instructions for how to do this).

Bonus tip: If you are having issues due to pop-up blocking in your web browser, us this link: https://test.mapnwea.org/#/nopopup

For more information, please reach out to your student’s teacher via email or through their online learning platform.

Original source can be found here.