Make sense of MAP assessments with the Family Toolkit

To all the families out there navigating your way through this unpredictable school year, know this: you’re not alone. The challenges you’re facing are new, complex, and shared by many. That’s why we have a website dedicated to helping you better understand MAP® Growth™,  MAP® Reading Fluency™, and how assessment supports student learning during this challenging time. We’ve named it the Family Toolkit, and there you’ll find timely videos, articles, FAQs, and other useful resources—all designed to help your family make the most of our assessments.

“In the COVID era, we’re asking teachers, students, and families to do things they’ve never done before,” says Jennifer Anderson, director of Teacher Programs and Communications at NWEA. “And because it’s all so new, the partnership between teachers and families is more important than ever. Our Family Toolkit is one way that we hope to support that partnership. We want caregivers to feel more informed and more confident about the task in front of them—and that they have a partner to help them get it done.”

Whether the students in your home are already familiar with MAP tests or will be taking one for the first time this year, the Family Toolkit will help ease the process. We’ve organized the toolkit into three clear sections that cover the basics of MAP Growth and MAP Reading Fluency, tips for taking assessments from home, and resources to ensure your learners have the ongoing support they need. Here’s what you’ll find:

Understanding the MAP Suite

In this section—a great place to start if you’re new to MAP Growth or MAP Reading Fluency—you’ll learn how our high-quality assessments support academic growth. This overview includes:

  • The Family Guide to MAP Growth, a handy reference that explains what MAP Growth is, what it measures, how it works, and what a RIT score is
  • Short, entertaining videos about MAP Growth, MAP Reading Fluency, and the experiences of real kids, in their own words

Preparing for testing at home

Here’s where you’ll find support and tips for ensuring that your learners have a smooth experience taking our assessments remotely, including:

Supporting your learner

We have resources to help you get your learner ready to test and promote their ongoing growth after. In this section, you’ll find:

We hope our Family Toolkit makes the task in front of you—helping your learners navigate the world of distance learning while keeping their academic progress on track—feel a little less daunting. With research showing that the school closures last spring led to significant learning loss for kids, it’s vitally important to accurately measure their progress and give them the ongoing support they need.

Other resources for the path ahead

We’re all learning together these days, and that’s an ongoing process. Once you’ve browsed the Family Toolkit, explore these resources for additional guidance and helpful tips:

Blog post

Helping students grow

Students continue to rebound from pandemic school closures. NWEA® and Learning Heroes experts talk about how best to support them here on our blog, Teach. Learn. Grow.

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Put the science of reading into action

The science of reading is not a buzzword. It’s the converging evidence of what matters and what works in literacy instruction. We can help you make it part of your practice.

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Support teachers with PL

High-quality professional learning can help teachers feel invested—and supported—in their work.

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