So we just got my daughter's results from the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests, and I'm wondering if anyone has a good feel on just how accurate they are.

If you are unfamiliar, these tests are computer based, and take many hours to complete all the different categories. My kids have been taking them one period a day for more than a week. After being set to the person's grade level, the computer starts asking questions at a difficulty designed to have a 50% failure rate. If the student answers several questions correctly, the computer increases the level of difficulty. The test gets progressively harder until the student reaches a 50% failure rate. If the student answers several questions incorrectly, the difficulty is decreased.

Now, my daughter is very smart, I know this. But they are talking about another series of tests to determine if she should be enrolled in the gifted and talented program or possibly advancing a grade level.

I'm somewhat concerned because of the inaccuracy i've seen in other testing methods, and don't want to place my daughter in a situation where she is likely to fail through no fault of her own.

Does anyone have any experience, or knowledge of these tests and their accuracy?

I'm sorry i've never heard of these tests. Meanwhile, according to have prolonged this test has been, you said it was over a course of a week or more? This seems to be a lot more accurate then just taking an SAT or what not because she's not being bombarded by a 'total' 'knowledge' assessment in the course of a few hours. Also, by the way the test is set up it would that seem that as soon as the difficulty got to high or low the computer would notice

Something my teachers never knew how to do.

yes, it adjusts the difficulty according to the right and wrong answers. Gets harder and easier. My concern is with how accurate the results might be. Is it correct when it rates someone high or low? What does it consider average? What would be average in one area might be high or low in others.

I would just like to know more about those things before I start changing my daughter's life around in response to the results.