ORCA K-8 SCHOOL

5215 46th Ave South

Seattle, WA 98118
206-252-6900

January 14, 2013

Re: MAP Assessments at Orca K-8 School

Dear Orca Community
As you know some members the Garfield staff and other Seattle Public School teachers have expressed concerns
with the MAP (Measurement of Academic Progress) Test by not administering the assessment. Several Orca
teachers have also decided to join the Garfield staff; other Orca teachers have abstained from this decision. I also
know that some staff members have written to families asking for your support, as the Orca staff has been very
honest and open with me about their goals and discussions around this topic.
For Orca K-8 School, we have already begun the discussion and voted to reduce the level of MAP administration
by close to 40% due to various reasons, some of them listed in the letters. However, as a school within our larger
districts systems we are still required to administer the test according to district policies and procedures and will
continue to do so according to the plan we set forth in October 2012. The MAP test is a useful tool for screening
and analyzing student progress and many teachers use it to adjust their instruction and how they work with our
students. We specifically use this assessment as a screener to provide supports, especially in the upper grades.
I will honor the individual decisions of teachers as we are providing an alternative proctor for administrating the
assessment for those classrooms. Parents have the right to opt their own child out of any assessment. For MAPs
purposes, you need to write me a letter or email stating that you are opting out of the MAP assessment for this
school year and I need an the full name of your child(s) as well as your stated full names of both parents and has
to be done annually. This will go into their permanent record with a copy to the testing coordinator and classroom
teacher. We have already assessed middle school students for winter quarter and will be administering for
elementary this week. The assessment schedule for MAP is below with a brief explanation of the decisions.

Fall MAP: School wide opt out except for new students to Orca.
Winter MAP: K-2 grades, Le (3rd) and 7-8th grades plus students in interventions (3-6th grade is piloting
the OSPI benchmark assessments which is matched to the standards)
Spring MAP: Required for all K-8 students

We of course will have a larger discussion regarding any and all assessments, especially as we move towards our
goals of project based learning, standards and assessments. The Superintendent is inviting principals and teachers
to be part of a formal process to review the districts assessment program, including MAP. Please do not hesitate
to contact me at clpedroza@seattleschools.org if you have any questions.
Sincerely,

Concie Pedroza, Principal

Cc:

Tonie Talbert, Asst. Principal

Simone Davis, PTSA President