As spring testing season approaches, teachers, principals, and other administrators may be looking for resources and ideas for sharing MAP® Growth™ results with parents. Sometimes parents need a refresher on what the test is, what their child’s score means, or how the teacher or school might be using the data. Whatever the reason, spring is the perfect time to discuss MAP Growth with parents—after a school year of reviewing results, they’ve heard of MAP before, and they can see their child’s growth data in each subject.
As you’re preparing for spring conferences, check out our five most popular parent resources:
- Our most frequently referenced resource is the Parent’s Guide to MAP Growth (fun fact: it’s available in 7 languages!). It’s short, easy to print, and answers basic questions, like what we mean by a computer-adaptive test and a RIT score.
- Teachers can also share a link to the Parent Toolkit page on nwea.org, which features more detailed FAQs to help answer specific questions.
- For an overview of MAP Growth, we recommend this short video explanation of how the test works. You can share the link on social media, in an email, or however parents typically receive school communications in your district! (It’s also available in Spanish.)
- If your school or class is mailing (or emailing) MAP Growth scores home to parents, we’ve created a sample letter for parents to accompany the report. (It’s also available in Spanish.)
- Parents can also experience MAP Growth from the student point of view! Watch Lyla’s story and Michael’s story and hear directly from two students as they share what it was like to get their MAP Growth scores.
Additional Resources
Every student population is different—which means every parent population is different, as well, so you’ll need to come up with a plan that’s right for your unique parent community. As you’re thinking about what communications will work best in your school district, consider some creative approaches:
- Some schools or districts record short, narrated screen recordings that provide a quick overview of the reports sent home to parents; here’s one on the Student Progress Report.
- We’ve also created a short video highlighting the information in the MAP Student Profile report.
The data that the MAP Growth interim assessment provides is rich and highly personalized for each student. These valuable insights show where each student is in their learning, where they’re headed, and how you, their teacher, can best help them get there. Parents are a critical part of that learning, and usually eager to know more. We hope these resources help you communicate about MAP Growth. If you have a great resource for parents that we missed, tell us about it on Twitter or Instagram!
