NWEA Spark Community

Not quite as catchy as Fred Astaire and his classic tune, but the RIT Scales used as the core scale of measurement in the NWEA MAP assessments are often as challenging to understand as it would be to replicate Fred’s fancy footwork!

In this chapter by chapter video, NWEA’s Senior Research Fellow Gage Kingsbury talks about the value and characteristics of the RIT Scale and offers a simplified and thorough explanation.

Chapters include:

1. Introduction to the RIT Scales
2. Item Calibration
3. Test Scores
4. Interpretation of RIT Scores

Gage addresses questions such as: What is the Rasch Model? Why isn’t the number of correct answers used as the score in MAP? If students take different test items, how can the scores be compared? Does a 200 RIT score from a third grader mean the same thing as a 200 RIT from an eighth grader?

Watch the video and then go to the forum discussion to share your thoughts, reactions and questions.

By the way…  as soon as I put the title on this blog that song was permanently imbedded in my brain! So if you’ve now gotten it stuck in your head, here’s a fun little video by the one and only Fred Astaire singing “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, ENJOY!