NWEA MAP testing - Uploading test scores & PDF reports for parent access

Daniel Wallach

Our school uses NWEA MAP for standardized testing, and we've been emailing PDF reports from NWEA to parents periodically to update them on progress. I've been asked if we can upload reports Blackbaud so parents can access to them all at any time & compare between reports in one place. It would also avoid admin work of emailing individual parents. Adding test scores would be good too, but the reports are more important.

I know test scores can be added to Academic Profiles in the Performance tab, with an optional file upload, but unless I'm missing something parents only have the Progress tab (the Performance tile under Progress only has report cards/transcripts).

There's a suggestion in this thread to add reports as user files, but it's from 2018 so wondering if there's any changes since then allowing for upload to somewhere more clearly designed for academics/testing.

Any suggestions on how to handle this?

#NWEA #performance #Tests #parentengagement #profiles

Scott Chrysler

@Daniel Wallach - That thread is still accurate and how we share ERB reports with our parents.

First you need to set up “User Files.”

Core > System tools > Bulk upload > Manage user files

Add and name the folder that will hold all of the files such as NWEA MAP Results

Now you need to decide how you want to structure your files within that main folder. Some people prefer by the academic year such as MAP Results: 2023 - 2024. Others prefer to do it by grade such as MAP Results: 3rd Grade. To help parents track performance, I prefer to organize by grade so parents can see 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, etc. The choice is yours.

For each subfolder, you need to give access to the Associations or Roles who you want to see the results. WARNING: if you are posting the test scores to the student record, and you want that student's parent to have access, you grant access to Parent of User.

Once those are all set up, you can bulk upload the results via Core > System tools > Bulk upload > Bulk upload users files.

Hope that helps.

Scott

Candace Chesler

@Scott Chrysler - can you clarify about organizing the folders by grade. You have one folder per grade level - and each year you add new files to that folder for the students in that grade - correct?
For schools just starting to upload MAP results - I would strongly consider Scott's suggestion. We load ours by school year. With this method - as students progress - the parents have to figure out what grade their child was in for a specific year. Yes - we order the folders so the years are in chronological order - but still - that's a very school centric method.
Scott' s suggestion of creating the folders by grade would make the parents happy.

Scott Chrysler

@Candace Chesler - For us, each test type - PSAT, ERB, AP, etc - we have one folder. Within those folders, we have a file name that corresponds to the grade for which the results are posted.

So we have an ERB Test Results folder. Within that folder, we have the file names:

ERB CTP Online - 3rd Grade

ERB CPT Online - 4th Grade

ERB CPT Online - 5th Grade

etc.

This keeps all of the test types together while keeping the grade of the results evident to all. This setup is very helpful in tracking a student's trends across a given test through the years. This organization could get tricky if you are not very intentional with your filing naming conventions for results from tests that are taken multiple times in one year.

The other setup I have seen is to have a folder for each year a student receives standardized test results. So the folder names are "3rd Grade Standardized Test Results", “4th Grade Standardized Test Results”, etc.

In the 3rd Grade Standardized Test Results folder, there are the file names:

ERB CTP Online - 3rd Grade

MAP Testing - 3rd Grade Fall

MAP Testing - 3rd Grade Spring

Iowa Assessment - 3rd Grade

etc.

This keeps the student's testing results for a given year in one place. This is helpful for evaluating a student's overall testing performance in a given year but makes tracking year-over-year performance on a given test a little more cumbersome.

Hope that helps.

Scott

Polly J Brake

@Daniel Wallach
We have been using the Core / Bulk Upload / Manage User File and created Groups: NWEA, CogAT Testing, IOWA, then underneath each topic, we created Sub files; Spring 2020-2021, Fall 2021-2022, etc… When a parent looks at the testing reports within BB they will see them divided up by Test Subject.

However, I was informed that we could have used ‘Test Scores’ area instead which would allow the test results to be entered in our database and then we could run reports based on the results for the entire school. This cannot be accomplished by just uploading .pdfs of the reports in the files/forms area.

Does anyone utilize Test Scores for these types of testing; NWEA, CogAT, etc…?

Scott Chrysler

@Polly J Brake - you bring up one of my sticking points with Blackbaud. At my former school, we uploaded the score sheets as forms so parents and faculty to have access to them. But then we needed to import the scores (a tedious process that required reformatting the data from how it was delivered from the testing agency to a format Blackbaud accepted for import) so the scores were in a form the database could recognize so we could produce reports for analytics. Teachers and parents cannot see the data entered in the performance Entering the scores in the student's performance area does not give teachers or parents access to them.

Lauren Henderson

@Polly J Brake Our school does both- the registrar uploads the PDFs for parents to see, and I format and import test scores for reporting. It is a tedious process, but it gets all CTP, AP, ISEE, SAT, ACT, etc. scores for a student on their record in a way that can be pulled for analysis.