New resources available this fall to help mitigate impact of COVID-19 school disruptions

Integrated with NWEA's MAP Growth data, two powerful tools can help schools with academic recovery efforts this fall and beyond.

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NWEA

Jun 30, 2020, 05:00 ET

PORTLAND, Ore., June 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the education community continues to grapple with instruction in the era of COVID-19, attention has shifted to how to move forward after interrupted learning and potential learning loss to create pathways toward academic growth for all students. Today, NWEA announced two powerful tools available this fall to schools across the country who use MAP Growth – NWEA's flagship assessment solution.

The first is MAP® Accelerator™ powered by Khan Academy, a nonprofit that provides personalized learning resources and content, and informed by MAP Growth data. With projections estimating the impact of COVID-19 school disruptions being greater in mathematics, MAP Accelerator helps educators differentiate math instruction for students in grades 3 - 8. The new tool will be available to schools this fall after a successful pilot year in several U.S. districts.

The second is a new partnership with Newsela, a K-12 instructional content platform that offers authentic, relevant instructional content at five reading levels, ranging from current events and popular culture to primary sources, historical fiction, and examples of real-world phenomena. Newsela and MAP Growth together will help teachers differentiate instruction. When a child takes a MAP Growth assessment next school year, Newsela will automatically show them content at the reading level that's right for them.

"As a not-for-profit assessment provider, NWEA has one of the most expansive array of instructional connections partners," said Erin Antonius White, Director of Curriculum Partnership at NWEA. "I'm excited for this new partnership with Newsela which continues our journey to combine quality assessment data with the best instructional tools available on the market."

Both tools are integrated with MAP Growth data meaning educators can immediately focus on meeting the specific needs of students. This not only saves time, but targets instruction and resources toward the greatest needs. Given that researchers predict students returning to school this fall (in whatever format that may take place) will have greater variances in academic skills and knowledge due to disparities in remote learning, access to technology and support for learning at home; some students may return significantly behind while others could come back well ahead – even thriving in remote learning conditions. Educators will need quality data to quickly triage the diverse needs of their classrooms, and effective tools, like MAP Accelerator and Newsela, that will help them accelerate academic growth.

"It's important to provide resources that are powered by quality data," said Chris Minnich, CEO of NWEA, "For educators, it takes the guess work out, especially when time is not always a resource, and gives them clear paths forward to help differentiate learning based on the individual needs of each student, and that's critical given the task ahead of ensuring each student is appropriately challenged with meaningful goals and engaged in their learning."

The Newsela and MAP Growth data integration will be available this fall to Newsela customers that use or plan to use MAP Growth assessments. MAP Accelerator will also be available this fall to schools across the country.

About NWEA

NWEA^® is a mission-driven, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency—and provide insights to help tailor instruction. Educators in more than 10,000 schools, districts, and education agencies in 146 countries rely on our flagship interim assessment, MAP^® Growth™; our progress monitoring and skills mastery tool, MAP^® Skills™; our reading fluency and comprehension assessment, MAP^® Reading Fluency™; our personalized learning tool powered by Khan Academy, MAP® Accelerator™; and our new assessment solution that combines growth and proficiency measurement. Visit NWEA.org to find out how NWEA can partner with you to help all kids learn.