lots of knees jerking around here.

First of all MAP is not a standardized test. It is adaptive - meaning it gets more difficult as you get more correct. Therefore it doesn't have meaning in terms of how well a student does on the state standards for their grade level. It lets you know how a student does vs. their peers nation wide (who have taken the MAP test) measured against grade level / gender / age/ whatever. Which to me is more interesting and useful in a different way than a standardized test.

Second it allows a someone to measure a student against themselves. Not are you better or worse than your peers but are YOU improving from point A in time to point B in time. Think of all the students who are significantly below grade level; a standardized test tells you nothing but the fact that they are below that standardized level. Not how far or what they are good or not good at. The MAP does this. The same for Above grade level kids who ace a standardized test. We don't know how advanced they are or what particular skills they have or should work on at their level. Again the MAP can tell both of those things.

As for teachers complaining that students don't take it seriously I can hardly believe people would buy that as a reason to eject a part of the school day. What is next? Washington State History. I mean what 17 year old takes that seriously. Plus, why take it seriously if your teacher says it is worthless? News outlets repeating that as a point against the test is plain stupid.

As a teacher of middle school kids I would point out that students generally take the test about as seriously as we encourage them to. Make the points of improvement part of a grade. Hype them up to "level up" over their previous score. Whatever. Just don't tell them it is pointless.

And Cienna, reach out to others at different schools - maybe schools that have been successful with the test so you don't get sour grapes mixed in with your results. Pick a school in the south end so the success isn't written off as institutional privilege. And all the Seattle Liberals (whom I count myself amongst) - get a grip. It isn't extraordinary activism, it is, at least in part, laziness. Kids aren't treated like lab rats when we try to measure if they have slept through a year of algebra.