Hello, iLEAD Lancaster Families!
As you may know, we measure learners’ academic growth over the school year by using the MAP NWEA computer-adaptive assessment three times a year: fall, winter, and spring. The MAP assessment is a vital part of our holistic approach to education, as evidenced in our Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs). MAP helps us set academic goals for each learner, as a balancing counterpart to the social and emotional goals that we closely monitor and work on throughout the school year.
If your child has been continuously enrolled since the beginning of the year, they have completed two MAP assessments thus far. Fortunately, our school has the unique opportunity to be able to proctor the test virtually, so that your child can complete the spring MAP assessment from home in a comfortable environment at a time that works best for you and your family, using the schedule that will be provided by your child’s facilitator.
We understand the challenges of the move to distance learning and adaptation to newly created educational, societal, and living conditions. Honoring the social-emotional well-being of each learner, we would like to offer a few reasons for having your child participate in this end-of-year MAP assessment:
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MAP enables us to see how your child is progressing toward their academic Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) goals, which were set at the beginning of the year and nurtured by our community, including parents, families, learners, and facilitators. iLEAD Lancaster embraces the whole child, focusing on both social-emotional and academic skills. The ILP is an integral part of this framework, ensuring that each child is respected and treated as an essential part of the ILP team, encouraged to be a self-directed learner and, therefore, work toward attainable self-created goals aligned to one’s individual development.
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Educating the whole child, we measure progress and emphasize growth versus final outcome and summative assessments. Thus, the spring assessment is designed to determine and document your child’s growth throughout the year. Even if your child participated in fall or winter MAP assessments, we highly encourage you to have your child complete this benchmark assessment again to measure their progress. Let them show off how much they have learned and celebrate their success!
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As a school that emphasizes each learner’s individual growth and educational journey, MAP is an important measure we use to document and show our progress to our local district authorizers, who in turn determine our school’s renewal status.
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The MAP results, which will be shared with you after the assessments are completed, allow us to personalize each child’s learning path by identifying areas of strength as well as areas that need additional support and extension.
Your child’s facilitator has been trained on the remote administration of MAP and is available to support you with any issues you may have. Please contact them as needed. We want to make the process as easy and comfortable for your family as possible!
If you are having technical difficulties, you may also submit a help ticket to our amazing Tech Team here. For further information on setting up your learner’s assessment session, please view this brief training video below. There are also troubleshooting tips here to help with any issues that may arise.
Thank you for encouraging your amazing learners to continue working on their ILP goals and participating in MAP testing — and for supporting our school!
With gratitude,
Nykole Kent
School Director
