Explain to parents what the purpose of standardized tests are and why it is so important that the students take the tests. Helping parents understand why their children must take these tests will aid in their understanding of why the scores are important and why they are weighed so heavily in the scope of their academic progress.
Explain what the scores are and what they are based on. Showing parents the scoring scale and explaining how the scoring is broken down for each individual section, such as reading comprehension, math and language arts, will help the parents to understand how their children scored the way that they did and what they will need to do to improve their scores.
Explain to parents what the scores mean and the average score for each individual section. Setting up a scale for parents to help them understand where their child falls in regards to how other students scored on each section will aid in their understanding of the standardized scoring and give them a better picture of how their child tested compared to the rest of the nation.
Give suggestions under each section's scoring that will explain to parents what their children can do to improve their scores. Giving helpful hints on what the children can work on that will give them the opportunity to perform better on certain sections will enable parents to understand what their children need to focus on and what they should work on with their children to help them succeed. An example of this would be to suggest that children focus on improving their close reading skills to score higher in the reading comprehension section. Instructing students to read over certain passages several times to truly get a proper grasp on the material and comprehend it better will help them improve their reading comprehension skills.
Schedule parent-teacher conferences after the parents receive their child's test scores so that teachers can better explain the purpose of the tests and the test scoring process to parents. Having a face-to-face talk with parents and getting the chance to explain to them what the tests mean and how important they are will ensure that parents take them seriously and are able to understand what their children need to do to improve their scores.