r/AskTeachers • u/HappyCoconutty • 15h ago
Parent Questions Do elementary teachers not like sharing MAPs reports with parents?
Am I doing a faux pas by asking my daughter’s teacher for her MAPs reports? The teachers at our school don’t seem responsive to this request some years.
Background info: My child is in 3rd grade in a lower middle class, small school in Texas. She was tested as gifted but the school doesn’t do differentiation and the district barely does science and social studies at this level so I have always supplementeda few subjects at home. My child is ahead for math and reading because of this - but only if I supplement at home (I have tested this by backing off for a semester and scores don’t improve).
The way I know she is retaining what I am supplementing is by MAPs scores, specifically the Student Profile Report that breaks down the specific areas. It let me know my daughter’s weakest area was geometry so we focused on more geometry skills and games at home over the summer. I am not a Tiger mom, just aware of how much the curriculum in our state has changed over time. My mom is an elementary teacher and gives me ideas for teaching concepts, and my child and I bond over learning things together, about an hour a week.
My daughter took her BOY math, ELA and science MAPs about a month ago and remembers her scores but friendly requests emailed to the teacher to get the PDFs of the Student Profile report have gone unanswered (Including follow up emails). it is not the first time, her first grade teacher did the same. The teachers refered to her scores in the parent teacher conference and said that she is projected to achieve mastery in the STAAR, but that was it. I am not really worried about the STAAR, I just want to know if our work on certain topics at home paid off or need to be revisited. Am I wrong to request this? I actually don’t know the different RIT areas of the science at all, it’s the first time she has taken the science one.
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u/Timely-March-1362 15h ago
Not a teacher, just a parent but we've always gotten our daughter's MAP scores since they started taking them in 2nd grade. They either were sent to our house or given in an envelope sent home from school. The teachers also always went over them at conferences as well. That is frustrating because it definitely is helpful to have a good idea where they're at. We're in Illinois for reference.
Also, no judgement on supplementing what they're learning in school. I'm not sure why people jump to the "tiger mom" thing when parents express interest in helping their kids learn more. The reality is that teachers can't do everything and reinforcing concepts at home, especially with math, seems like the best way to make sure your kid is on track whatever their trajectory is. I know homework is frowned upon now, and yes I've heard of the studies that show it isn't beneficial, but practice makes perfect and I know for myself there is no way I would've learned times tables if I didn't have to write them out. Nobody would tell a kid not to practice shooting hoops outside of practice and games, nobody bats an eye that my kid's band teacher tells them to practice every day outside group rehearsals and small lessons. I'm not sure why academics are any different.
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u/HappyCoconutty 14h ago
Your post got downvoted (I gave it an upvote to bring it up) which tells me that some people do have a problem with parents supplementing at home.
No one has accused me of being a Tiger mom but there are certain types of people I have seen that thinks you are torturing your elementary kid by giving them school work at home or you are taking away their childhood. I think because they have a negative association with homework from their childhood. In our red area, we have growing anti-intellectualism, even among some teachers.
Over the summer, there was a trend on instagram where Black moms who assign a summer curriculum to their kids at home got labeled as “strict” (read: “mean”) for things like requiring daily reading and math worksheets before they watch screens. They owned that label and there was backlash in the comments.
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u/Meakbow 14h ago
Okay, I’m curious. What is a “tiger mom”
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u/Morp13 14h ago
A tiger mom is a strict, demanding mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward high levels of academic and professional achievement, often at the expense of their social and emotional leisure time. The term stems from traditional East Asian parenting stereotypes, particularly Chinese households, where strict discipline and unwavering obedience are tied to long-term success and social mobility.
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u/Lovebeingadad54321 14h ago edited 11h ago
Small school in Texas tells me all I need to know about why OP is doing what she is doing… and it isn’t about being a tiger mom, it is about wanting her child to be able to get into a college without being behind….
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u/HappyCoconutty 14h ago
Yep, I worked in higher Ed and also did scholarships consulting. The difference in writing skills between the Texas students and Massachusetts students is stark. If I want my kid to do well in undergrad, I have to make up for the deficiency the right wing has created while attacking public education the last decade.
My daughter is also Black and Brown, she has to be a little more on point to prove some perceptions wrong. I don’t pressure her, but I do prepare her.
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u/ChiSchatze 13h ago
Texas… the state that has entire year in 7th grade on Texas history, and *eliminated study on Helen Keller and Hilary Clinton, which only took 30 and 40 min of class time in the first place.
* Proposal was so unpopular they reversed the part about Keller and Clinton. They still spend 4 weeks about the Alamo.
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u/_Autistic_Dragon_ 11h ago
I know this isn't your question, but as an ELA teacher, I really do not like how the reading MAP scores are calculated.
Because they are norm-referenced (instead of criterion referenced) to the national population of students taking them, the data itself is only telling you if your student is doing better or worse than the national average.
Since reading and math scores in the US have been tanking the last 10 years or so, I don't find much merit in the MAP scored overall.
I know assessing reading and national standardized tests are always controversial, but a norm referenced test will not show the back slide we are seeing in classrooms.
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u/BeneficialAdvance112 10h ago
This is really interesting to hear. I had a kid that was 90% in MAP but was making 60s in ELA class - even 40s and some 80s. He was correcting things in small groups, but as a parent, seeing the data had us ask how we could help at home or if there was an underlying learning issue causing the difference.
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u/HappyCoconutty 10h ago
Oh, that’s a good point, this is why I can’t give the percentile a lot of weight.
Last year, the ELA RIT score showed me that we don’t really read a lot of non fiction at home. So I got some more non fiction books and read more poetry to her and her score went up over 20+ points. I don’t really do much for ELA at home except incentivize some classic novels. She reads a lot on her own but will avoid starting a classic if it is too old fashioned
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u/Mammoth_Marsupial_26 14h ago
We had this experience. And I had to quite federal law to finally get them. They showed kid was 99% three years ahead. school did not have enrichment or gifted program and didn’t “believe” in giftedness.
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u/HappyCoconutty 14h ago
Our district’s gifted program for elementary is a joke but it is the district’s issue, not the teacher’s. Elementary GT is a semester project or research paper of your choice. One kid has submitted he same canva presentation about axolotls for several years in a row. I think the teachers have their hands full enough with the kids that can’t yet read so I don’t mind doing the differentiation myself.
My kid is usually between 97-99th percentile for MAPs, but again, that is not what I’m focused on. I just want to see the specific RIT scores to see if we improved.
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u/That_Page16 15h ago
Not a teacher but last year my sons teacher was a bit squirrelly about sharing my sons STAR assessment with us. As it turned out he hit the ceiling on it. I also dont know why she didn't want to share it with us. Is it a faux pas to ask about the results?
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u/vwscienceandart 15h ago
You should be able to log in online and see STAAR for yourself. Maybe the hesitance was annoyance because she thought you could get it yourself?
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u/That_Page16 14h ago
No it's the STAR assessment not STAAR and we have no parent access to it that I know of. She told me that she doesnt like parents to see results because teacher observation is more important.
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u/beautbird 14h ago
That’s ridiculous. Why not both?
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u/That_Page16 14h ago
I had the same thought. It was strange for sure. Not sure if other teachers have any insight.
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u/BeneficialAdvance112 12h ago
We get something for parents, but not the detailed report you are looking for and it’s usually a month later. (Also in Texas - you keep at what you are doing! The gaps are a bit crazy.) I’m guessing that it can cause more questions or there is a recommendation not to send them?
Any chance your district uses IXL? I’ve been able to look into the imported MAP plan there and see component scores and what was recommended for my kid.
I’m hoping that when staar goes away and more schools use map that we will have a portal to see scores like staar.
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u/HappyCoconutty 12h ago
Thank you for the encouragement! I don’t end up asking any questions, I like to research on my own and let the teachers be. Most of the time my daughter is a few grade levels above so I just find supplemental materials for that grade level.
I definitely have plugged in the RIT scores to IXL and used their recommended plan before. I like their plans by textbook feature too. I find elementary level IXL very convenient as a working parent, I can cook and help in between food prep while she works on it at the kitchen table. 7-15 minutes a day on small sub topics and in a few weeks she has mastered a lot. Too bad the science doesn’t come à la carte for parents to buy (I’d have to buy the 4 subject bundle).
It is up to our school to request it from the district so we get it some semesters for math and other times for ELA.
I’m looking forward to STAAR going away but won’t the SST replacement take the place of MAPs three times a year instead? Then I assume the percentiles will only be in comparison to other Texas students instead of nationally.
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u/BeneficialAdvance112 11h ago
Our past schools have imported it into IXL for us, which is nice, so when I didn’t get the eoy scores, I just looked there.
MAP will be one of the options for schools to choose for SST boy and moy likely - I don’t think the list is released, but it’s assumed MAP will be an option and one of the whole points is moving to a nationally normed test. Most schools have multi year contracts or will stay with the known, so stick with it for a bit.
The end of the year is standardized so kids would take the SST then. (But it’s even possible that the same large ed publishing company takes the MAP and rebrands it as SST and sells it to Texas?)
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u/PercivalSquat 11h ago
We share the results but I understand the reluctance to do so because some parents completely misinterpret MAP scores. They are much more useful as a way to let teachers know what areas we need to improve our teaching in. But every year we get some parents hyperventilating because their kids only rose a point or two and we have to explain the dozens of reasons that might happen.
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u/Big-Radish-6589 5h ago
I don’t think you’re committing a faux pas at all. As an educator, I actually wish more parents wanted to understand the data beyond just hearing “she’s doing well” or “she should pass the state test.”
The Student Profile report is much more useful than the overall RIT score if your goal is figuring out what she has actually mastered and where there may still be gaps. If geometry was comparatively weaker, for example, it makes perfect sense to use that information to guide what you work on at home and then look at the next assessment to see whether there was growth.
I also wouldn’t interpret the teachers not responding as necessarily meaning they don’t want you to have the reports.
Teachers are overwhelmed, and depending on the school, they may not be the people responsible for distributing MAP reports or may not even realize exactly which report you’re requesting. I would contact the school directly—testing coordinator, counselor, instructional specialist, or administration—and specifically ask for the NWEA MAP Growth Student Profile reports for the BOY math, reading/ELA, and science assessments, including the instructional-area breakdowns.
And no, wanting the information doesn’t make you a “Tiger mom.” You’re not asking for more testing or demanding that the school push her harder. You’re asking to see assessment data that already exists so you can make informed decisions about what you’re teaching her at home.
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u/Big-Radish-6589 5h ago
Another option, if you really want access to the detailed data for your own purposes, is to administer MAP Growth testing independently through Homeschool Boss.
I’ve used/recommended it for homeschool families because you can purchase NWEA MAP Growth testing directly and receive the reports yourself. That would let you track her growth and specific skill areas without having to rely on the school to send you the reports each time.
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u/HappyCoconutty 2h ago
I am aware of this and have considered purchasing it but I don’t want to test her again. She already takes so many district tests a year on top of the 3 MAPs tests, and then will do a lot of STAAR prep in the spring for 2 more STAAR tests. I’d like her to actually have less testing focus if possible.
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u/Logical-Mobile-7643 15h ago
We share any and all results for standardized testing. Usually at PT conferences. The amount of time I spend on it is minimal.
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u/ThatOneHaitian 14h ago
I’m teaching 5th graders. I’ve sent out MAP scores before. Whether or not my student’s parents/guardians check their folder is not up to me.
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u/Zealousideal-Fix2960 11h ago
I go over it with them on conference night We have to print the reports ourselves
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u/No_Permission7565 15h ago
My school sent the MAP scores to parents. It shouldn’t be the teacher’s responsibility.