The grade level norms are averages and should not be used to set expectations or goals for students. The student score compared to the norm provides a perspective about how each student, or the class, or the grade level is performing. The NWEA MAP test assessments reveal precisely which academic skills and concepts your child has acquired and what he/she is ready to learn. NWEA MAP Suite reports allow teachers to better target instruction based on students’ strengths and needs.
In my opinion, Pearson Revel isn't a bad product. It works as intended. However, the customer service at Pearson Revel is very poor (at least based on my personal experience. Others may have better success with their customer services). I tried to contact the Pearson representative numerous times via email and phone calls to set up Pearson Revel for my class. In my experience, the representative never returned my emails or phone calls. I am very disappointed by their lack of customer support.
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.
Unfortunately, there are some videos that do not play, or situations where the video does not match the question content. These are bugs that should be attended to by Pearson, but although I have reported them (along with students), they have not been remedied.
Instructors who would prefer to use only the digital text do not have the option to purchase the text without the platform.
Because the text and software are integrated, there are no "page numbers" as in other digital texts which makes it hard to reference a particular section in a lecture, assignment, or presentation.
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.
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.
I have used Pearson MyPsycLab in the past. I believe it was a better overall product than the REVEL system because the text and learning activities were separated, Students could view the text, then complete the activities. Overall, I think that both printed texts and systems like REVEL will be obsolete in the near future as content is readily available on the internet at no cost to the student.
NWEA MAP is a valuable tool for our district in terms of assessment data. I do not deal with the money directly, but from the teacher standpoint, it is a quality product.
NEGATIVE: The platform is less expensive than a printed text, but students can use OER's for free. This is especially important at the community college level where students tend to have less financial resources for education.
NEGATIVE: After the course completes, the student has nothing to use as a reference. They cannot go back and view the content, nor can they print any of the content.
NEGATIVE: The student pays for the learning platform and content which includes a large number of activities and resources. While this seems to be a positive thing, students (and instructors) can get overwhelmed with the number of activities and resources available. Some students won't use any of the resources at all.
