Howard notes career-best MAP test scores at Heights

When Jim Howard joined the Jackson Heights school district in the summer of 2021 as superintendent, one change he stated an intent to make in the district was to implement the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) test, stating a preference for the test’s measure of student growth over the school year to the end-of-school-year standard of the Kansas State Assessment Test.

On Monday, Howard reported to the Jackson Heights USD 335 Board of Education that thrice-a-year MAP testing in the district during the 2025-26 school year produced results that were “literally the best I’ve ever had in my career of using this as a metric” of student growth.

“Everyone made and exceeded growth standards, and sometimes, they just really exceeded the growth standard,” Howard told the board during its regular monthly meeting, noting that the number of students who scored as “non-proficient” in reading and mathematics tests, from kindergarten through 11th grade, declined significantly over the school year.

Overall, in the test’s math scores, the district saw a 20.41-percent drop in the number of students who scored at the lowest scoring level in the test, from 170 in the fall to 93 in the spring, while in reading, the district noted a 12.94-percent drop in the number of students who scored lowest, from 170 in the fall to 124 in the spring.

“This is a very rigorous test,” Howard reminded board members. “Proficiency is hard, and a kid who scores at the 40th percentile of the test is still considered average.”

Howard was especially pleased at how Jackson Heights’ RIT (Rasch unit) averages, which evaluate grades and subjects in which overall class scores meet or exceed the national average, turned out this spring. In the fall, first, second and sixth-grade classes scored below the national average in math while students in second, sixth and ninth grades scored below the average in reading.

This past spring, however, no classes scored below the national average in either aspect of the test.

“Every single one of our grades is now above the national average as far as math and reading, K through 11,” Howard said. “I’ve never had that happen.”

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