ALEKS vs. NWEA MAP Suite

ALEKS does a great job of helping students fill in the gaps in their learning so that they have a solid foundation to move on to higher-level mathematics. It works very well with self-motivated students. It doesn't seem to work as well with less motivated students.

Incentivized

NWEA MAP is a great assessment for 1st grade and up. It directly aligns with the college and career standards. It can predict achievement on the ACT and state assessments. NWEA MAP used with kindergarten is not as aligned. It is very difficult for new kindergarteners to take. Most students guess because the assessment gets very long for them. It is a great assessment for the middle of the year for high achievers and at the end of the year for all students who are entering 1st grade.

Incentivized

• Differentiating instruction
• Tailoring individualized curriculum to cater to each student's unique needed.

Incentivized

• NWEA MAP Suite calculates projected growth for individual students based on their grade level and RIT score for each subject.
• Projected growth can be found on many different reports.

Incentivized

• Reports can confuse students
• Limited ways to solve a problem
• Can lead to mimicry

Incentivized

• NWEA MAP has technical issues during prime testing times (fall, winter, and spring). It is as if the system gets overloaded and cannot handle all of the students logged on at once.
• I would like to be able to see the reports immediately. Currently, you have to wait until the next day for the scores to be available.

Incentivized

We did not need much support because installing and running ALEKS on Schoology was relatively easy; the department followed the steps outlined in the user manual on how to install ALEKS and were able to do so quickly. ALEKS help team has been helpful, but overall we did not need their help.

Incentivized

The customer service is phenomenal! Every time I call, which is not very often, I always get a friendly agent that works hard to solve my problem and does not give up. They look at all angles of the issue and will go above and beyond to help. For example, our students are rostered by connecting NWEA MAP Suite to our SIS, and sometimes there is a glitch. NWEA will call the other software company if necessary, to help get the glitch fixed.

Incentivized

I was not able to find any other products on your list, that I feel are really like ALEKS. I think of ALEKS as more of a teaching platform whereas other platforms I have used--MyMathLab, WebAssign, Knewton--are more of a homework platform.

Incentivized

NWEA MAP Suite is more directly aligned to our college and career readiness state standards and ACT. The questions are more rigorous than Renaissance Star Assessments. The reports on the NWEA MAP Suite are more detailed and exact in where the data came from.

Incentivized

• Improved foundational math skills
• Improved student engagement in math courses

Incentivized

• Allowed us to test students 3x a year to better evaluate if a student is growing or not.
• The data from the MAP assessment may be included as part of the placement review process along with other data points, such as student work samples and other assessment data to help determine if a student is ready for the next grade level.

Incentivized