Stone Bank School Mission:
We educate students in thoughtful, purposeful, and meaningful ways grounded in our tradition to foster lifelong growth.
Hello Stone Bank Families!
Thank-you to all of you who have and will be coming in and engaging in conversation with your child(ren)'s teacher(s) at our parent/teacher conferences. This is always an exciting time of year as I hear many teachers remark that their classroom communities are thriving! All the hard work put in at the beginning of the year to set expectations and build community is paying off. It is that time of year when we begin to hit a good stride in learning. I especially love hearing about how learners are encountering and solving problems in their learning communities because this is where they get to practice at real life! I have seen an abundance of problem solving scenarios at our school and even more importantly, I see our teachers stepping back and allowing kids to practice the powerfully important skills of problem solving~in a place and space where they feel safe to practice and receive "on the spot coaching" from their school community, who care for them deeply.
As we step back and coach our learners into taking accountability for their own actions and navigating their social lives, (seriously, middle school is quite frankly the most interesting environment to observe) we also begin to step back and release our learners to engage in more independent academic work, practicing what they are learning, with supports that they will need to be able to advocate for.
One data point we use to formally measure academic progress and identify next steps in learning is a MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) assessment, and we recently finished up our winter MAP testing. We are in our second year of MAP testing and are beginning to understand and implement all that this assessment tool has to offer. Staff have engaged in two trainings thus far this year with a specialist from NWEA, (Northwest Evaluation Association) to help us best understand what our learners are ready to learn.
This kind of testing is different from our state standardized test, the Forward Exam, which we will take in March and April of this year. The Forward Exam (both assessments are taken digitally) shows, or one could argue that it does or does not show, what a learner knows, at this point in time, based on grade-level criteria, whereas a MAP assessment shows what a learner is ready to learn. This assessment is on a sliding scale that pulls questions from data banks. Depending on whether the learner gets the answer correct or not, the test adjusts the difficulty of the next question. You can read more about that here.
The tree at the opening of this post is a visual reminder to me of a MAP assessment. The beautifully intricate branches are the various learners we share, and the equally intricate and deep root system represents opportunities that our learners are ready to learn. Notice I use the phrase ready to learn instead of should learn. Learning is not a race to master everything just to master everything, but rather a journey where various learning and experiences take place to formulate lasting and meaningful understanding and application of skills and knowledge learned. Hence, a MAP score is so much more than a number...and so are our learners. I can't emphasize that enough. We have a mental health crisis on our hands and we must be very thoughtful about our use of technology and screen time, and be sure to create time for our brains to power down and to rest and rejuvenate. This "power down" time allows deep and meaningful learning to stick, and be recalled and applied later.
Having said that, a MAP assessment can provide us with a plethora of useful information when it comes to knowing what our learners are ready to learn. I stood inside the shoes of a parent this week and poked around the NWEA site, with the data of a mock learner. I quickly learned that my child was ready to learn to put a comma at the end of a greeting in a letter. "That's easy!" I thought. As a parent, I could support my child's learning by teaching him/her that. Then I got to math. Not so easy for this parent. Luckily there are also resources (many of them free) that you can can access to help learners with both learning and practicing ready to learn content. This link will take you to some resources that can support your learner at home. Using the Student Progress Reports, along with the resources, can help you locate relevant resources for support at home. Here is the thing with education these days; time, place, and space are the variables, and learning is the constant.
I ask a few things of you as you review your learner(s) Student Progress Report, first alone, and then with your child:
- Read this first (short and sweet FAQ type format that gives you some context) before looking at scores.
- MAP data is growth data, which means that in order to begin to see a consistent pattern for discerning growth, it is best to look across at least two to three years of data. We are in our second year of MAP testing right now, so just remember that one score, or even one years' worth of scores, do not illustrate a holistic view of growth, knowledge or achievement. True growth data is acquired with integrity over time. It is a principal of statistical analysis that the pattern that emerges after four or five tests is usually truer than the pattern that emerges over two or three. Therefore...
- Don't focus just on the most current score. Yes, you will look at it and yes you will compare it to the national norm, but then pan back and look from year to year to look for growth.
- Talk to your child about how it felt to take the test. As this article illustrates, test anxiety is real. Thankfully the MAP assessment has purposeful built-in features that allow the test proctor (the teacher) to be alerted when a learner is disengaged in the test. Sometimes a simple, quiet chat with that learner allows the teacher to see that he/she may need a quick break. MAP allows for a 20 minute pause, and saves the test if it is not complete.
- Talk to your child about their test taking habits. Finding out what they need in order to do their best can be very insightful! Sometimes a simple pair of headphones or a spot that is tucked in the corner, facing away from other learners can make a huge difference.
- Remember that a test of this nature does not define your child(ren) as a learners. We use what is called a triangulation of data to make instructional decisions for our learners, we focus on growth, and this data point is just one piece of the picture.
Our mission at Stone Bank School is to educate our students in thoughtful, purposeful, and meaningful ways, grounded in our tradition to foster lifelong growth. MAP testing helps us to be thoughtful as we analyze results to make purposeful decisions so that we can support our learners in meaningful ways to foster lifelong growth. Please take a bit of time to educate yourselves on our MAP assessment tool and it's wealth of resources! Our March Family Curriculum Night will be dedicated to the MAP assessment. We will help you navigate your child(ren)'s Student Progress Report and try out some resources, as well as provide an opportunity to take one of our MAP assessments. The date for our March Family Curriculum Night will be forthcoming.
Below are some MAP resources. As you get to know these, please jot down some you are finding especially helpful so that you can share them with others at our March Family Curriculum Night.
"February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March."
~Dr. J.R. Stockton
Be Well,
Beth
MAPS Blog - this blog has some nice ideas for families in how to support learning at home.
Parent Toolkit - this link has some more FAQ type resources
Practice Test - username and password are both: grow
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