With the winter season in full swing, schools across the country are checking in on student progress. This means teachers and schools have progress data on your student that they can share with you. If your student’s school uses MAP^® Reading Fluency^™, below are some tips for how to work with teachers and understand your student’s results.

Family tips

• Understand your student’s progress. After your student takes MAP Reading Fluency, ask the teacher how they are progressing. The two most important pieces of information to understand are (1) student progress relative to grade-level expectations and (2) the amount of student growth relative to their own progress. Understanding both types of data lets you know if your student is on track to be ready for the next grade and if they are making overall growth as a reader. After a winter assessment, teachers have two data points to compare (fall and winter results) and should be able to share how much progress your student has made.
• Ask to listen to your student’s audio recording. MAP Reading Fluency has an audio review feature that records students’ reading. Ask your student’s teacher to play this recording for you so you can hear if the way they read in school is consistent with the way they read at home. Understand, though, that what students read on an assessment may be more difficult than the familiar books they read at home, so there may be slight differences. Regardless, listening to the recording is a helpful feature that you and your student’s teacher can both use.
• Understand how you can support your student at home. Ask the teacher for a couple of the most important things you can practice with your student at home, such as asking questions to discern their comprehension of a text. Depending on where students are in their reading journey, these practice areas will look different from student to student. Communicating with your student’s teacher on the one or two most effective ways to help will ensure your student is receiving the support they need at both home and school.
• Agree on when to check back in. Set a date for when you and the teacher will check in on your student’s progress. By agreeing with your student’s teacher on when and how to check in next, you allow your student time to make progress and can guarantee that the conversation about your student’s progress will continue.

For teachers reading this post, please share resources you use when sharing assessment data with families. Are there common questions families ask, and how do you respond? What do you share with families about how they can help their student at home? For more helpful tips and information, check out the Parents section on the NWEA Teach. Learn. Grow. blog.