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Reading your child's score report

What is a good MAP score? Averages by grade, 2025 norms

The national average MAP Growth score for every grade from 3rd to 8th, what NWEA's Low to High labels mean in RIT points, and where the 2025 proficiency bar sits.

Average MAP scores by grade, 2025 norms

These are the 50th percentile scores from NWEA's 2025 norms, the national averages a child is compared with. Fall means the fourth week of school, winter the twentieth, spring the thirty-second.

Each grade has its own page with the full picture: the score ranges behind NWEA's Low to High labels, the proficiency bar and how much a child typically grows in a year.

• What is a good MAP score for 3rd grade
• What is a good MAP score for 4th grade
• What is a good MAP score for 5th grade
• What is a good MAP score for 6th grade
• What is a good MAP score for 7th grade
• What is a good MAP score for 8th grade

Three ways to read "good"

• Against other children. The percentile. The 50th is the middle of the country. This is the number to look at first, because a RIT on its own means nothing without the grade and season beside it.
• Against NWEA's labels. The report sorts every score into five bands: Low (below the 21st percentile), LoAvg (21st to 40th), Avg (41st to 60th), HiAvg (61st to 80th) and High (above the 80th). The same labels appear next to each instructional area, such as Geometry or Vocabulary.
• Against the proficiency bar. In August 2025 NWEA raised its default Proficient cut to between the 61st and 73rd percentile, depending on grade and subject. A child can be solidly average and still below it. That is a statement about where the bar was set, not about the child.

The spring proficiency bar, grades 3 to 8

Why last year's percentile may not match this year's

NWEA replaced its 2020 norms with a 2025 set built from tests taken between fall 2022 and spring 2024. Achievement has shifted down since 2020 and scores spread out more, so the same RIT can now land on a higher percentile than it used to. Some schools are still moving between the two sets. Before comparing two reports, check which norms each one uses; it is usually printed in the report's small print.

What to do with the number

• Read the percentile first, then the RIT. A RIT only means something next to a grade and a season.
• Look at the instructional areas marked Low or LoAvg. That is where the useful detail is, and it is what to ask the teacher about.
• Ask the school whether it uses MAP Accelerator, the Khan Academy practice tool built on MAP results. It is offered through districts, not sold to families, so the school is the way in. Khan Academy itself is free for anyone.
• If you want to know exactly which skills are behind a LoAvg area, and get practice built from your child's own answers, Point of Progress is an at-home adaptive test in the style of MAP Growth that names each skill and builds a workbook around the gaps. It is independent of NWEA and is not MAP Growth.

Questions parents ask

Is MAP Growth pass or fail?

No. There is no failing RIT. The score shows where a child is now on a scale that runs across grades, so growth from one year to the next can be measured.

Why is the fall score lower than last spring's?

It happens, particularly in math, and NWEA's own averages show it: the average 3rd grader finishes spring at 199 in math, and the average 4th grader starts fall at 197. The fall test comes in the fourth week of school, after the summer break. Compare a fall score with fall norms, not with last spring.

Which grades do these numbers cover?

This page covers grades 3 to 8, where NWEA publishes both norms and default proficiency cuts. NWEA's norms go from kindergarten to 12th grade, but the 2025 default cuts stop at 8th grade.

Sources and dates

NWEA, 2025 MAP Growth Norms Quick Reference, October 2025: student achievement and growth norms, from 116 million scores of 13.8 million students in 30,000 schools, fall 2022 to spring 2024.

NWEA, 2025 MAP Growth Norms Technical Manual, Appendix B, student achievement percentile tables for mathematics and reading.

NWEA, Default Cut Scores for MAP Growth Mathematics and Reading Assessments, August 2025: spring cuts, grades 3 to 8, from 36 linking studies across 41 states.

NWEA, Student Progress Report quick reference: the Low, LoAvg, Avg, HiAvg and High descriptors.

MAP Growth and NWEA are registered trademarks of NWEA. This page is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NWEA. Last reviewed October 2026.