Holy Name School use special tool to identify learning gaps

Originally posted on heraldnews.com

FALL RIVER – As of the beginning of September, students have returned to full in-person learning for the majority of Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Fall River. An immediate concern of school administrators has been to identify learning gaps as a result of the sudden remote learning from March through June. Despite Catholic schools’ immediate ability to pivot to robust remote learning in March, research shows that students may have some residual learning gaps due to the fact that in-person learning provides the optimal learning environment for elementary school age children.

Three years ago, the Diocese of Fall River launched Measure of Academic Progress Growth Testing, or MAP Growth Testing, which is the most trusted and innovative assessment for measuring achievement and growth in K–12 math, reading, language usage, and science. It provides teachers with accurate, and actionable evidence to help target instruction for each student or groups of students regardless of how far above or below they are from their grade level. In a typical school year, students are assessed at the beginning, middle and end of the school year in order to chart progress or identify individual student learning gaps that can be immediately addressed.

Now that Holy Name School in Fall River has been in school for a month, the leaders have already started to test the students using the MAP Growth Testing tool. Students in kindergarten through grade 8 have been working through each of the subject testing modules for the past week. The teachers receive each student’s results within 24 hours, so that specific skill learning gaps can be identified and augmented with extra help, tutoring, or computer assisted instruction. Never has this testing been more important as students will have varying degrees of learning loss due to remote learning in the spring compounded by summer vacation.

For more information about Holy Name School, visit www.hnsfr.org.

For more information about the Catholic Schools Alliance, visit www.catholicschoolsalliance.org/we-have-a-place-for-you.