What is a good MAP math score for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade? The 2025 NWEA percentile chart

By 15Q20M Editorial · Last updated September 25, 2026

On NWEA's 2025 norms, the average MAP math score (the 50th percentile) for a 5th grader is 206 in the fall and 216 in the spring. For 4th graders it runs from 197 to 210, and for 6th graders from 210 to 220. Whether a score is "good" depends on the season and on the benchmark your school uses.

2025 NWEA MAP math percentile chart: grades 4, 5, and 6

Use this chart to see roughly where your child's RIT score sits. It is a 15Q20M parent reference built from NWEA's 2025 MAP Growth norms, and it compares a score with students in the same grade at the same point in the year. The 50th percentile is the middle of that reference group. One detail matters: NWEA's tables are set at specific weeks of instruction, the 4th week for fall, the 20th for winter, and the 32nd for spring, and NWEA says they "should not be used outside the designated instructional weeks." Your child's report uses the weeks of instruction at the time of testing, so if the report's percentile differs a little from this chart, trust the report.

The season matters as much as the grade. A 5th grader's 212 sits right at the 50th percentile in winter, above it in the fall, and below it in the spring, because the reference group keeps learning through the year. The spread is also wide: the 10th and 90th percentiles are about 40 to 50 points apart in every grade, so a score a few points either side of the middle is still close to typical.

What is a good MAP math score for grades 4 to 6?

MAP Growth has no nationally mandated pass or fail score. The percentile tells you where a score falls, and each state or school decides which benchmark counts as on track. NWEA's own study of how MAP scores line up with state tests shows how far those benchmarks move: across 41 states, the grade 5 math "Proficient" cut ranged from the 41st percentile in Iowa to the 85th percentile in Illinois, a span of 44 percentile points. Those state figures come from NWEA's linking studies. When a school has no linking study for its state, NWEA's default cut scores are "automatically applied to score reports," and those set spring math Proficient at 218 for grade 4 (67th percentile), 227 for grade 5 (72nd), and 230 for grade 6 (70th). NWEA adds that the defaults "should not be used to predict student performance on any summative assessment." Either way, the range shows how much the meaning of proficient varies, and it shows why a Proficient line on a report can sit well above the 50th percentile.

For a practical read, put the percentile next to your school's benchmark. Around the 50th percentile, your child is scoring like a typical student in the same grade and season. As our own rule of thumb, not an NWEA cutoff, a score below the 25th percentile is worth a conversation with the teacher, especially if classwork shows the same trouble or the score dropped from last time. Gifted and advanced math programs set their own cutoffs, so ask the school for the exact number.

Why did MAP percentiles change? 2020 vs. 2025 norms

Older charts built on NWEA's 2020 norms are still easy to find, and they can give a different percentile for the same score. NWEA's explanation of the 2025 update is direct: RIT scores "are still measuring achievement on the same scale," but "as a general rule, the same RIT score will now correspond to a higher percentile rank than it did under the 2020 norms." The reference group now comes from tests taken between fall 2022 and spring 2024, and NWEA notes that math "shows a more complex pattern, particularly for higher achievers and in growth." If a chart you found disagrees with your child's report, check which norms year it uses.

Another mix-up comes up on parent forums: a 5th grader scores in the 240s, and a chart makes it look like an 8th grade score. The norms compare your child with other students in the same grade. A 5th grader's 240 in the spring is the 90th percentile for 5th graders, a strong score. A RIT score does not say which grade's lessons your child has finished.

How much should a MAP math score go up during the year?

As a rough reference, NWEA's 2025 growth norms put the average fall-to-spring gain in math at 13 RIT points in grade 4 and 10 points in grades 5 and 6, and the average fall-to-winter gain at 7, 6, and 6. The standard deviation for the full year is about 8 points, so gains of 5 and 15 are both within one standard deviation of the average. That's different from your child's growth target: NWEA calculates what it calls conditional growth, based on the student's starting RIT score and testing dates. Ask the teacher for your child's own growth target instead of using a flat number for the grade.

How accurate is one MAP test score?

NWEA's technical manual puts it plainly: "Because all tests are error prone, a RIT score is accompanied by a standard error of measure," and the manual builds a score interval by adding and subtracting that error. Read a single score as a small range, and look at the pattern across fall, winter, and spring. Avoid making a big decision about placement or practice from one score alone. Ask the teacher to compare it with classwork and your child's earlier scores.

What should I do after a low MAP math score?

Ask the teacher which areas of math were lowest and whether the result matches what they see in class. If the score and the classwork agree that something is missing, find the specific skill before adding practice. A short home check tells you more than extra worksheets on everything.

A six-problem home check for how far behind your child is, and how long catching up usually takes

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Want a quick check at home? Try our free placement test for grades 4 to 6

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