In order to prepare for parent/teacher conferences, teachers should collaborate to create the best process for them to explain MAP results to parents.

One part of conferences would certainly be sharing individual reports with parents. Choosing which report will be given to parents should be done collaboratively as a district or building. Explore the individual reports available through the annotated reports and determine which best meets your needs.

To access the Annotated Reports, open the web link to NWEA’s Downloads and choose Annotated Reports. Choosing "Individual Students Progress Report" will give you one graphical report, and choosing "Online Student Progress Report" will give you two report options; one report in table form and one in graph form.

After you have decided which report is best for you to use during parent/teacher conferences, you will need to discuss this with the building administrator and local district MAP coordinator (the MAP coordinator has access to all the various styles).

Collaborating to develop a system to use during parent/teacher conferences can benefit both parents and teachers.

After choosing which report will be used for sharing information with parents, consider creating an explanation sheet to be used by teachers and taken home by parents. Also, consider backing the explanation sheet with a sample report from the Annotated Report set so that you can write on it.

For fall conferences, you might consider how you will explain to parents when there is no growth or even negative growth from spring to summer. (There is not as much instructional time between March and September, as there is between September and March and without instruction, there will likely not be growth.)

Also, for students with higher RIT scores and at higher grades, growth will be smaller. For example, for a student whose RIT scores is 202, the norm group's growth mean is 6.73 RIT points, but the standard deviation around that growth mean is 7.61. This means that 66% of students will have growth between about -1 and +14 RIT points and will still be considered as having "normal" growth. That means that the growth of -1 RIT points is typical of a student at the 202 RIT score and the +14 RIT point growth is also typical of students at that RIT score.

You can access Annotated Reports through the website given below (NWEA.org), choosing the Member Documents tab and Download option.

The RIT Reference Chart contains sample questions from each subject test and at each RIT level. During conferences, parents may be interested in seeing the type of questions their students are proficient with, learning at, and not yet ready for.

The RIT Reference Chart is similar in organization to the Des Cartes Learning Continuum. The RIT range at which a student scored is where they are answering about 50% correctly and 50% incorrectly, it is their instructional level. Questions to the left cover secured skills, and those to the right are yet to be learned.

The goal areas on this document will be different than on the reports you have locally. Because the version of the MAP test that MISIC schools take has been tailored to those standards and benchmarks, the goal areas have also changed.

To access these RIT Reference Charts, go to the link below which is the NWEA Download section. Scroll down to find RIT Charts. This link will take you to a page on which all four subjects are listed, choose the one or ones of interest.

Lexiles can be a valuable tool for parents as well as teachers. If parents are knowledgeable about what a Lexile reading level is and how it can help their child grow in fluency, comprehension and vocabulary ability, they can apply that knowledge when choosing books with their children.

Sharing students' Lexile scores with parents can be challenging if it is new to teachers, take time with a team to discuss what Lexiles are, how they can be used, and why they are used. The Lexile Workshop contains greater information on these items.

Also, consider graphing Lexile scores over time to illustrate growth of students.

The information on the PowerPoint slides included with this assignment might be information to share with parents. The final three slides of the PowerPoint contain some especially important points for parents to know and remember.

To give parents an overview of the kinds and levels of reading materials used across the grades, a local version of the Lexile Framwork can be created.

Access the original Lexile Framework, go to Lexile.com, then click on the red "Educators" tab. Then, the "Tools" tab from the top menu. You will then look for the "Lexile Map" option.

This original version gives samples of reading materials at each 100 Lexile points along with a short passage illustrating that reading level. This version cannot be modified, as it is in PDF format, but a parallel format can be used to develop a local version.

A Framework or Map can be created that includes the literature titles, texts and a sample passage that are used in a local district. This can be a valuable tool for parent communication as parents are able to compare the Lexile level of their student to the literature and texts used at various grade levels. It can reiterate the importance of reading.

The conversations that occur as a result of choosing which pieces of literature will be added to the Framework, and at what Lexile each of the literature pieces and textbooks are, are also valuable. At the same time that a Framework is created, consider working on the ways in which students who are not currently at a sufficient reading level will be supported in their learning.

Parents might be interested in the resources available to them at Lexile.com. You might consider creating an informational page to hand out at conferences that gives parents the web address and what resources are available.

To access the family section of the Lexile website, click on the yellow "families" tab. On the welcome page, the Database, Analyzer and Calculator are available to them.

If parents click on the "Resources" tab from the top menu, there is a "Lexiles at Home" paper that describes what Lexiles are, how parents can put them to use, and more.

If parents click on the "Tools" tab from the top menu, they can access Power Vocabulary, Pathfinders, and the Lexile Map (Framework).

There is also a "Book Search" tab available to parents that will allow them to find books and their Lexiles by author, topic, title, or Lexile level.