Results from the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments taken in January show academic growth trends that surpass pre-pandemic results from February 2020, with more than half of MNPS students meeting or exceeding their growth projections in English Language Arts and Math, which exceeds the national average.
“The pandemic continues to put a strain on public education, but the latest results from our MAP assessment show that the hard work of teachers and administrators throughout the district is making a positive impact on student growth and achievement,” said Dr. Adrienne Battle, Director of Metro Nashville Public Schools. “Throughout the pandemic, we have been focused on the immediate needs of students while planning for and investing in the long-term strategies and initiatives that will promote greater outcomes now and into the future.”
The MAP assessment is being given to students in grades 2 to 9 three times this year, once at the beginning of the school year, once in January, and once again toward the end of the semester. These assessments help the district in determining whether a student requires targeted interventions, both for those who are experiencing academic challenges as well as those who may need to receive gifted and talented educational services. The assessments also help inform the district of which strategies and investments are working best to meet the student’s needs and will inform future planning around federal grant funds as well as aspirational budget requests from the city and state.
District Strategies
Throughout the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, MNPS has adopted several strategies to promote academic and learning growth among students. Strategies include:
- Investing in high-quality instructional materials in Literacy and Math for our students and implementing the Literacy Reimagined plan with fidelity.
- Prioritizing planning, preparing and implementing new resources in the summer so that excellent teaching began on day one of the year, with additional planning time built in throughout the calendar.
- Teachers planning intentional supports so that ALL students access grade-level material for the majority of every day.
- Providing intentional interventions aligned to diagnosed needs.
- Establishing a high-impact tutoring program, Accelerating Scholars, that provides a combination of small group tutoring provided by certified teachers along with community volunteer tutors.
- Every student having intentional connections through Sown to Grow and the Navigator program.
- Personalizing educational opportunities through MTSS, high-impact tutoring and more.
Results from the Math assessments show that all student groups exceeded the national average for growth, with nearly all student groups meeting or exceeding those targets for Language Arts.
Individual student growth scores are available for parents and guardians interested in seeing the progress of their children. Families can see the data through the Personalized Student Dashboard, which is inside Campus Portal.