Compare methods

	Learning Progressions Analysis	Wright Map Analysis
Field	Education	Education
Family	Process / pipeline	Latent structure
Year of origin	2009	2005
Originator	Science and mathematics education research (Corcoran, Mosher, Rogat; Wilson; Clements & Sarama)	Benjamin Wright (Rasch measurement); construct-mapping framing by Mark Wilson
Type	Empirically grounded ordered description of how understanding develops over time	Graphical display aligning person abilities and item difficulties on one scale
Seminal source	Corcoran, T., Mosher, F. A., & Rogat, A. (2009). Learning Progressions in Science: An Evidence-Based Approach to Reform (CPRE Research Report RR-63). Consortium for Policy Research in Education.	Wilson, M. (2005). Constructing Measures: An Item Response Modeling Approach. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN: 9780805847857
Aliases	Learning Trajectories, Progress Variables, Learning Progression Validation, Construct Maps	Item-Person Map, Item Map, Construct Map (Rasch), Variable Map
Related	4	4
Summary	Learning progressions analysis is a methodology for describing and validating the typical paths by which students' understanding of a core concept grows more sophisticated over time. A learning progression hypothesizes an ordered sequence of increasingly advanced ways of thinking — from naive ideas to expert understanding — and then tests that ordering against evidence of how students actually reason. Prominent in science and mathematics education, it links a theory of the domain, the design of assessment tasks, and a measurement model into a coherent description of conceptual development.	A Wright map (item-person map) is the signature graphical output of Rasch measurement: it places persons and items on the same vertical scale, with examinee abilities on one side and item difficulties on the other, both in logits. Because a person succeeds on an item with probability one-half when their ability equals the item's difficulty, this shared scaling lets analysts see at a glance how well a test is targeted to its examinees, what the items reveal about the construct's order, and where measurement is sparse. Named for Benjamin Wright and central to Mark Wilson's construct-mapping approach, it is a primary tool for interpreting and validating measures.