The Grow Network Speaks To Parents and Students

I spoke with Mark Malaspina president and co founder of The Grow Network a McGraw Hill company about why he and David Coleman founded the company and for further explanation of The Grow Network solution. Interview by Ken Royal for District Administration Magazine DA Mark can you give me some background as to why you began The Grow Network Mark Malaspina Back in David Coleman and I founded the company in . David and I come from different backgrounds but had known each other for a long time. He was working with a company as a consultant for the New York City Schools and my background was in urban development and I had taught a couple of years in the Peace Corps. We came together around the notion that people were talking about using data to help inform instruction even back then pre NCLB data driven decision making was a hot notion in education. But when we were actually talking to teachers in the classroom or parents who had received reports there was really very little atten! tion paid to providing information to the users whether they re teachers parents or students about what assessments really mean and the action you could take based on that data to improve learning for kids. Parents back then and in some states still receive a straight forward table of numbers about their kids. We used to call it The Summons because that s what the parent report used to look like. Teachers would receive and list of all their students with their overall scores and sub scores. No one really understood what this data meant what the different reporting categories were or what a good score or a poor score really was. DA So they were getting all this paperwork and didn t know what it really meant. Malaspina Exactly or what steps to take next. So we started a pilot program in New York City in that was really exciting. What we were really doing was that for the first time we were providing teachers with reports about their students performance together with next ste! ps online to address their particular student s strengths and needs. We would go into schools and talk to teachers about printed reports online tools and teachers would say that they had never seen anything that turns test results from something that could be dry or punitive into something that could actually help us that could help guide us by prioritizing and differentiating. DA So you went from what they were used to seeing which could have been a negative view without much meaning for teachers to a more positive which made sense to them Malaspina Yes it could actually be a tool that could help them make decisions and improve instruction in the classroom. And we began talking to parents as well. We worked with focus groups of parents to devise what the clearest way of explaining what these results would be. And our original notion was that we d have printed reports and then an online Web site where you could find out more information. And what we discovered in working with Florida was that there was a much more powerful notion. As more and ! more parents had access to the Internet whether at home or at the workplace we realized that we could actually provide a personalized Web site for parents. They could go and find out their child s own specific scores and information including historical information about their child s past test results and then have all of that information linked with things like parent friendly descriptions of what the standards are in that state at that grade and subject and activities parents could do at home in the particular areas of weaknesses for that student. There s some really nice standards based content that you can provide to students on a site like that. DA It s great that this is all directed to the parent in a way they can understand it. Malaspina Yes we were really conscious of all the language so that we were not writing in jargon. It s all about connecting standards to real life and what that means for kids and how parents could really help if they understood what their k! ids were expected to know. DA It must have been a big hit with parents immediately. Malaspina Yes absolutely. It was a really exciting launch in Florida where we went statewide for about . million parents and it allowed Florida parents to immediately gain access to results without waiting for the reports. DA Was this in all the districts in Florida Malaspina Yes all the districts and statewide. It s a really big program. DA When was that Malaspina That was back in . We ve built the technology platform so that it will serve any state the standards and sub standards all the information will be customized to that state. It s been purchased by a few other states such as Nevada and Indiana. We work carefully with the state so that they feel comfortable with all the language for parents. And anything they want customized can go on the site. DA What do you see in the future for The Grow Network Malaspina Well I think that there s more and more things that parents are interested in. One of the things that we re doing is looking at how to engage with p! arents around English Language Learning ELL tests and alternate assessments which are both very important types of assessments. A different kind of explanation is required including translated elements for non English speaking families for the ELL tests additional explanations for what is being tested on the alternate assessments. DA Mark do you have any audio or video at these sites Malaspina Not on these particular sites but we do have some professional development sites that do have some videos. An example is one made available in New York State with a partnership with Public TV Channel . We provide links to very specific professional development content so that teachers can go from an understanding of their class strengths and needs to professional development videos that can help address those needs. DA You are probably finding that parents enjoy the easy access to the kind of information they can get at The Grow Network site. Malaspina Yes there s a lot more home acce! ss than there used to be. Our site can be accessed just through a simple dial up connection. We also make sure that our site can be accessed at libraries and work with the state to advertise the site at public libraries. So people who might not have home access can visit the libraries and we also see access during working hours where people at work are accessing the site. DA Yes that makes sense. Any other additions to what you re doing already. Malaspina We launched a program in parallel to the parent involvement program called the My Guide program which directly engages the students themselves about what expectations there are for their learning and how they can progress towards those expectations. If you can engage students directly then you can see significant achievement results. We are statewide in Texas and Arizona with this program. The idea is that you can provide students with a personalized guide with their names on it and an explanation of their test score results. It includes their overall scores and what areas they have specific ! needs in. So the guide itself has instructional content that is personalized for that student based on that student s profile. DA How are the profiles generated Malaspina They come out of the assessment data. So we re able to process the assessment data analyze it and produce this kind of personal learning plan for every student. We ve essentially made a real student friendly version of a report and then created a customized workbook so a student can work as his or her own pace with material that was really at the correct level. DA So you ve created something that the parents can actually understand for better parent involvement and you ve done the same things for the students at their level. Malaspina For the students there is also a companion Web site with multimedia tutorials which goes back to your question about sound and video. So in addition to the printed guide students also have the My Guide Online where they can get additional practice in a multimedia experience. ! DA Does this cover all the areas in their profile Malaspina Yes and we ve really focused on the My Guide program on mathematics and English language arts. DA And does all of this material come from McGraw Hill Malaspina Yes. Sometimes we can work with the state so some of the content can be release sample test items and customize it to the state. Everything is aligned to the state standards. DA How can states or districts get involved with The Grow Network Malaspina We have regional people that can come and give in person presentations and we also have some really clear materials so they can reach out to us. The program comes with professional development services. In the case of the My Guide program it includes teacher training and the parent program comes with and outreach component. We can work with the local press and public libraries to make sure parents are made aware. The core concept in everything that we ve done for different audiences is to bring together the data and match it with the right content for you and your child. 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