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System Requirements

For quick reference, here are the minimum system requirements for the MAP^® Suite. If you need help determining if your system meets the current OS and browser minimums required by NWEA, you can check your system using the NWEA workstation diagnostic tool. This web-based tool checks if your device is configured to current OS and browser minimums. It is helpful to partners who need to prepare devices for MAP Growth or Summative testing and proctoring.

Student technology requirements

Student technology requirements depend on where your student is testing (at school or remotely) and on your school's policy requirements (secure testing or browser-only testing).

Secure testing: Recommended for MAP Growth™ when testing at school (for remote testing, use browser only). With proper setup, NWEA tools will prevent students from accessing other websites. Upon request, NWEA can activate a requirement for all students to use secure testing.
Browser-only testing: For MAP Growth, testing with a standard browser such as Google Chrome™ is possible, but students can access outside resources during testing. As a result, you risk compromising your assessment.

Secure testing

As a best practice, use NWEA secure testing browsers and apps for MAP Growth testing. With proper setup, these tools prevent students from accessing other websites.

Device	Operating System	Secure Testing Tool
PC*	Windows^® 10 minimum	NWEA secure browser for PC, 5.4.405.0 minimum See Windows setup
Mac^®	macOS^® 12 minimum	NWEA secure browser for Mac, 5.6.1.4 minimum See Mac setup
MacOS App Store	macOS 13.3.1 minimum	NWEA secure app for Mac, 6.0.29.0 minimum See Mac setup
Chromebook™*	Google Chrome OS™ 120 minimum	NWEA Secure Testing App, 3.2.0 minimum See Chromebook setup
iPad^® (not iPad mini)	MAP Growth: iPadOS^® 16 minimum MAP Reading Fluency™: iPadOS 16 minimum	MAP Growth: NWEA Secure Testing App, 3.4 minimum —See iPad setup MAP Reading Fluency: use MAP Reading Fluency Testing App
*Touch screens are not supported, and Chromebook™ tablets are only supported with an external keyboard. Recommended: Set up computer user accounts dedicated to testing, and disable digital assistants (Siri^® and Cortana^®), voice dictation, and unsupported screen readers (Chromevox™ and VoiceOver™). Refer to Computer user accounts for testing for details. For students who need screen reader technology, you can use JAWS^® 2021, 2022, or 2023. Refer to Screen Reader Guidelines for details.

Browser-only testing

In situations where test security is less concerning, students could use a standard browser, following these requirements:

Device	Operating System	Google Chrome*	Safari^®	Mozilla^® Firefox^®	Microsoft Edge*
PC	Windows^® 10 minimum	Version 120 minimum	Not supported	Version 121 minimum	Version 120 minimum
Mac	macOS^® 12 minimum	Version 120 minimum	Version 17 minimum	Version 121 minimum	Not supported
Chromebook	Google Chrome OS 120 minimum	Version 120 minimum	Not supported	Not supported	Not supported
iPad†‡ (grade 2+ testing)	iPadOS 16 minimum	Not supported	Version 17 minimum	Not supported	Not supported
†iPad testing with MAP Growth K–2: Students must use the NWEA Secure Testing app. See Secure testing.
‡iPad testing with MAP Reading Fluency: Students must use the MAP Reading Fluency Testing app.
*MAP Reading Fluency assessments: Only Google Chrome (version 120 minimum) and Microsoft Edge (version 120 minimum) browsers are supported.

Testing sites

For testing MAP Growth, students use either of the following sites:

https://test.mapnwea.org

This site restricts the student’s browser to a single tab. Browser settings might need adjustment.

Note: A pop-up window opens when you access test.mapnwea.org. In the browser settings, either disable pop-up blockers or allow the testing site as an exception.
https://test.mapnwea.org/#/nopopup

This site has no browser restrictions. Default browser settings typically work.

For testing MAP Reading Fluency, students use the following site:

https://student.mapnwea.org

Proctor, teacher, and staff requirements

To administer testing, access reports, and use other administrative features:

Follow the same requirements as browser-only testing
Allow cookies and pop-ups—refer to Staff browser and other settings
iPad limitations for staff:
- Not fully supported for MAP Growth (have a back-up device)
- Will not allow access to MAP Reading Fluency

Hardware specifications

Computer hardware must meet the minimum requirements specified by the manufacturers of the operating system and browser in use. Hardware that exceeds the minimum requirements is recommended for an optimal experience. For computer display, follow these specifications:

Feature	Requirement
Screen Resolution	MAP Growth: 1024 x 768 for students; 1280 x 1024 for staff MAP Reading Fluency: 1280 x 720 for both students and staff
Scaling or Zoom	Set to 100%
Color Depth	32-bit recommended (minimum 16 bit)

Feature

Requirement

Screen Resolution

MAP Growth: 1024 x 768 for students; 1280 x 1024 for staff

MAP Reading Fluency: 1280 x 720 for both students and staff

Scaling or Zoom

Set to 100%

Color Depth

32-bit recommended (minimum 16 bit)

Headphones for students

For tests designed for early learners, students can hear questions read aloud through audio playback. For the best experience, use headphones.

In addition, there are specific headphone recommendations for testing with MAP Reading Fluency:

Over the ear, not buds
Noise cancellation
Boom microphone on the end of a stiff arm that extends in front of the child’s mouth, rather than attached to the headphone cord
USB connection for better sound quality

Network bandwidth

The following bandwidth recommendations are based on best-estimate calculations. Test sites that do not meet these recommendations will be able to deliver assessments, but they may experience delays.

Grades 3+ testing—2 Mbps for every 30 computers concurrently testing.
Grades K–2 testing—3 Mbps for every 30 computers concurrently testing. More bandwidth is required because of audio and interactive features.
Look for limitation points in your internal network (such as school-to-district connections when the district has the main internet connection).
You may need to calculate the bandwidth requirements separately for each term, depending on the number of tests planned. The requirements increase when you test more students, more subjects, or more schools.

Note: Additional bandwidth is needed at the beginning of each MAP Growth assessment. The initial load is approximately 2.2 MB, and the load time varies based on available bandwidth.

To perform an internet speed test, use a website such as www.speedtest.net and select Portland, Oregon (the primary location of NWEA servers). For each building where testing will take place, perform the test at different times during the school day to understand the variations in bandwidth usage. Record the download speeds and use them to approximate your available bandwidth during testing.

Wireless recommendations

Here are general guidelines for Wireless Access Points (WAPs), based on 802.11 g, n, or ac:

Number of Devices per WAP	Performance
25 devices	Acceptable
25–50	Check the performance
50 or more devices	Try to decrease the number of devices

WAP should be in the same room as the testing devices.

In the WAP configuration, strive to limit connections to just testing devices. Also, limit devices to connect only with the closest WAP (for example, avoid overlapping channels and disable promiscuous mode on devices). During testing, monitor for interference from rogue WAPs, non-testing devices, and non-testing activities, like iOS updates. If errors occur, try disabling automatic load balancing.

Firewall allowlist and email configuration

For the following URLs, you should: add to your allowlists, exclude from caching, and prioritize the traffic. Update both hardware (such as firewall, content filter, and proxy server/cache) and software (such as antivirus and anti-malware). Allow the changes to propagate before testing.

Sites for test and administration:

For all MAP Suite products:

*.mapnwea.org
fonts.googleapis.com
gstatic.com
https://sso.mapnwea.org
https://teach.mapnwea.org
https://start.mapnwea.org
https://auth.nwea.org/adult/login  
https://auth.nwea.org/adult/logout
*.browser-intake-datadoghq.com
*.datadoghq-browser-agent.com
newrelic.com

For MAP Growth:

https://cdn.mapnwea.org/
https://cdn.jsdelivr.net
https://item-presenter-lib.mapnwea.org
https://test.mapnwea.org
https://test.mapnwea.org/#/nopopup
https://practice.mapnwea.org
https://studentresources.nwea.org
*.launchdarkly.com

For Text-to-Speech accommodation tools in MAP Growth:
```
*.texthelp.com
*.speechstream.net
```

For MAP Reading Fluency:

https://readingfluency.mapnwea.org
https://readingfluency-cdn.mapnwea.org
https://student.mapnwea.org
https://lmapi.mapnwea.org

Sites for training, documentation, and analytics:

https://nwea.force.com/nweaconnection/
https://dpdol.nwea.org
https://legal.nwea.org
https://prolearning.nwea.org
https://prolearningonline.nwea.org
https://start.nwea.org
https://www.surveygizmo.com

Allow in email spam filter (both server and clients):
```
*@nwea.org 
```
For example, noreply@nwea.org is used to send login credentials to staff. Also, check whether your filters will block bulk emails from arriving in a short period of time. Either temporarily disable that filter or add an exception for *@nwea.org.

Staff browser and other settings

You can either push the following configurations to staff devices or instruct staff to make changes themselves (if they have permission).

Browser settings:

Enable JavaScript.
Enable cookies. This setting can be applied globally or directly to the staff sites: teach.mapnwea.org and https://start.mapnwea.org.
Allow pop-ups. Add the sites teach.mapnwea.org and https://start.mapnwea.org to the list of allowed sites in the pop-up blocker settings, including pop-up blocker add-ons. If pop-ups remain blocked, then PDF reports will not display automatically and you must use an additional link to open them.

For staff completing NWEA training, also allow the above list of training sites.
Disable saved password. Recommended for security purposes.
Find more info at: Proctor, teacher, and staff requirements.

Other settings:

Set screen resolution. Optimal screen resolution is 1280 x 1024.
Adjust clock if incorrect. The device clock must be within 5 minutes of the official standard time in your area. If the time does not match, then access to reports and other parts of the site might fail.
Allow NWEA email. If the device has a spam filter, ensure it allows email from *@nwea.org to receive the automated email with login credentials. Also, check whether your filters will block bulk emails from arriving in a short period of time. Either temporarily disable that filter or add an exception for *@nwea.org.