MAP Assessments

MAP offers four assessments. Decide which assessment type is right for you by reviewing the assessment types below.

Aspects common to all assessments:

• Grounded in the Core Standards
• Include Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion (DEAI) issues as they relate to the assessment focus
• Help museums look at both functional and strategic aspects of their operations
• Use an online platform to move through modules with narrated presentations, resources, and required activities
• Require an internal MAP team to lead the museum and be responsible for the bulk of the online work, required activities, site visit organization and action plans

MAP also offers a special Follow Up Visit Opportunity for museums who have completed a MAP in the last seven years with their original Peer Reviewer. Contact MAP staff at map@aam-us.org to be added to the notification list and receive an email notification when the next Follow Up Visit application is available.

Organizational Assessment

This basic strategic and holistic assessment helps a museum look at its operations primarily from the perspective of how well activities, resources, and mission align with each other, and with professional ethics, practices, and standards.

To help a museum have a solid foundation to build on for long-term health and impact, this assessment places significant emphasis on thinking, acting, and planning strategically; organizational alignment, capacity; leadership and organizational structure; risk management; and organizational culture. This assessment assists museums define key areas of operations or functions that need to be strengthened.

Learn more about the Organizational Assessment.

Collections Stewardship Assessment

This assessment focuses on practical, ethical, and strategic collections issues and activities related to the care and management of a museum’s collections per professional practices and standards. It also looks at the collections within the context of the museum’s total operations, plans, and resource allocation.

The results will help the museum—governing authority and staff—increase its knowledge, recognize and mitigate risk, take action, prioritize long-term collections stewardship issues, gain physical and intellectual control of the collections, and write polices and plans.

Learn more about the Collections Stewardship Assessment.

Education & Interpretation Assessment

This assessment helps a museum evaluate how well it is carrying out its educational role and mission, meeting core standards for education and interpretation. In addition to looking at the museum’s current content delivery vehicles such as its exhibitions, tours, and programs, the Education & Interpretation Assessment considers these in context with the museum’s community, audiences, and other aspects of operations so the museum can be responsive, relevant, and trusted source of learning and educational partner in its larger education ecosystem.

This assessment also looks at the museum’s educational content creation and delivery from the perspective of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion.

Learn more about the Education & Interpretation Assessment.

Community & Audience Engagement Assessment

This assessment focuses on the museum’s awareness and understanding of, and relationship with, its various communities and audiences; and their perception of, and experience with, the museum. It looks at what roles the museum plays in its community and vice versa. And it helps the museum look at its culture and actions when it comes to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion—all of which impact its long-term financial sustainability.

A Community & Audience Engagement assessment helps museums gather better input from their constituents, develop a more nuanced view about the community’s and audiences’ demographics and needs, respond to the changing nature of its audiences, and incorporate these findings into planning and operational decisions.

Learn more about the Community & Audience Engagement Assessment.