The Cracks

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 09:00:00 -0600

This is Part 3 of “The Measurement Gap,” a series examining NWEA’s MAP testing and RIT scores—how they work, why teachers don’t trust them, and how they shape acceleration decisions in Oak Park District 97.

In Part 2, I explained the genuine innovations behind RIT scores: the Rasch model’s elegant mathematics, the equal-interval scale, the adaptive algorithm that meets each student where they are.

On paper, it’s exactly what you’d want for identifying students ready for acceleration.

The Beautiful Math

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 09:00:00 -0600

This is Part 2 of “The Measurement Gap,” a series examining NWEA’s MAP testing and RIT scores—how they work, why teachers don’t trust them, and how they shape acceleration decisions in Oak Park District 97.

In Part 1, I documented MAP testing’s troubled history: teacher boycotts, ethics violations, a federal study showing no impact, and a for-profit conversion that raises new questions.

But controversy doesn’t mean the underlying design is bad. Before we can fairly evaluate MAP’s role in acceleration decisions, we need to understand what it’s actually trying to do—and the genuinely innovative mathematics that make it work.

RIT Scores on Acceleration Denied

The Cracks

The Beautiful Math