On two standardized tests, students with high Reflex usage substantially outgained students who did not use the program extensively. That was the conclusion of a recent study examining the relationship between Reflex usage and test scores for students in Charlottesville, VA. The study looked at both the Virginia state math assessment and NWEA’s MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) assessment.
Grade 2 Students
Reflex helps build a strong math foundation for Grade 2 students, and gives them the skills they need to succeed this year and beyond. Grade 2 students at all six elementary schools in Charlottesville had access to Reflex. MAP test data for students with at least 40 days of usage between the fall and spring test administrations was compared to the scores for students with low or no usage (0-5 days). The results were striking. While the two groups started out with very similar scores on the fall test, the high Reflex users had dramatically larger gains than those in the low usage group on the MAP test the following spring.
NWEA’s MAP test is a computer-adaptive, nationally normed test used by districts across the country to provide a detailed picture of a student’s current level of knowledge of Mathematics as well as their growth over time. Districts who use the MAP are able to not only see where their students are, but to see how quickly they are progressing as compared to their peers nationally. The MAP reports scores in student percentile ranks and RIT (or raw scores). Each year, students that have typical growth maintain their percentile rank. So, if a student is progressing at a rate comparable to the national average, their percentile point gain would be zero.
The average percentile ranks for the low and high usage groups were very similar at the beginning of the year. The low usage group did reasonably well and gained some ground as compared to students nationally, but the students who used Reflex 40 plus days during the school year had dramatically higher gains on their test scores than those in the low usage group. The high usage group moved forward by 18.7 percentile points whereas the low using group gained 1.9.
Grade 4 Students
In Grade 4, Reflex helps students shore up their knowledge of their basic facts as they prepare to tackle more complex topics such as long division and computation with fractions. In this part of the study, the state math test pass rate for students who used Reflex for at least 40 days during Grade 4 was compared to the pass rate for the same students a year earlier in Grade 3 before they had used Reflex. In grade 3, the high usage Reflex group has a pass rate of 62.5% compared to the state average of 64%. On their Grade 4 test, however, the Charlottesville high Reflex users had a pass rate of 85%, which far surpassed the statewide average of 74%.
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