DD failed both reading and math SOL

[Anonymous]

OP’s kid is in 6th grade. This is the 4th year she’s taken SOLs, which means there are multiple data points to weigh these against. If the previous years were all passing and her Iready scores are grade level, it’s probably not that worrisome. I’d this is the 4th year of them being below passing and her Iready scores are consistently low, it’s more indicative of a problem. OP needs to go gather that data and look at the patterns.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The most important thing is to decline the retake. No need to make her sit though all that again.

Tell me more about this. It had not crossed my mind not to have it retake it because I was hoping she could get to the passing grade but is there really no benefit for her to do it?

Don't do the retake- it does not benefit your child at all!

It does benefit a rising 7th grader to have a passing SOL score. There are previous posts about this. A failing SOL score typically causes a student to be placed in an extra support class during 7th grade. This means giving up an elective.

So, failing is GOOD when the kids needs extra support.

What do we know about these classes? Are they any good? Anyone have experience with the one at Twain?

the literacy class is terrible. Opt out of that and keep the elective the kids pick.

That is not true, at most schools. I know where I teach, most kids make substantial gains from the literacy class, as seen in every metric - words correct per minute, core phonics, I-ready, SOL. And far, far fewer kids are coming to middle school as beginning decoders, thanks to OG in elementary, so “finishing up” OG in middle school has good long-term impact for high school.

At our "good" middle school- this class is terrible and the behavior is even worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most important thing is to decline the retake. No need to make her sit though all that again.

Tell me more about this. It had not crossed my mind not to have it retake it because I was hoping she could get to the passing grade but is there really no benefit for her to do it?

Don't do the retake- it does not benefit your child at all!

It does benefit a rising 7th grader to have a passing SOL score. There are previous posts about this. A failing SOL score typically causes a student to be placed in an extra support class during 7th grade. This means giving up an elective.

So, failing is GOOD when the kids needs extra support.

What do we know about these classes? Are they any good? Anyone have experience with the one at Twain?

the literacy class is terrible. Opt out of that and keep the elective the kids pick.

That is not true, at most schools. I know where I teach, most kids make substantial gains from the literacy class, as seen in every metric - words correct per minute, core phonics, I-ready, SOL. And far, far fewer kids are coming to middle school as beginning decoders, thanks to OG in elementary, so “finishing up” OG in middle school has good long-term impact for high school.

At our "good" middle school- this class is terrible and the behavior is even worse.

A lack of literacy is tied to behaviors. Something like 75% of people in prison can’t read.

[Anonymous]

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The SOL deserve some credit here. The SOL scores alerted the OP that their DD needs additional assistance. Several posters have chimed in with similar experiences.

The child is in 6th grade, why is this just coming to light? I would guess that OPs kid has passed proficient but in the lower end of the scores and has had lower percentile iReady's for a while. There is no way that this is a suddent thing. This has to be something that has been brewing but OP has been fine with whatever the scores have been. Good for OP for acting now but I suspect that there have been other signs.

At least at our school, I begged in IEP meetings for them to look at my child's low 400s reading scores on the SOL to try to figure out where he was going wrong. Primarily, I wanted to know whether it was a reading issue, a comprehension issue, or a test taking issue. It wasn't until he failed, that anyone at the school gave a damn. And they were able to raise his score 50 points in 3 days, so I doubt it was a true reading/comprehension issue. The issue isn't always the parents. Especially in this world of electronic learning, we don't always have the information we need to help our kids.

That's because low 400 scores are passing, it means your child is meeting the standards and there is nothing wrong.

400 is not a good score, even if it is passing. As we found out, one or two questions in the other direction and you fail. And had they intervened when I asked and given him the skills he was missing (which really were test taking skills) he would not have failed the SOL.

They don’t give test taking skill classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The SOL deserve some credit here. The SOL scores alerted the OP that their DD needs additional assistance. Several posters have chimed in with similar experiences.

The child is in 6th grade, why is this just coming to light? I would guess that OPs kid has passed proficient but in the lower end of the scores and has had lower percentile iReady's for a while. There is no way that this is a suddent thing. This has to be something that has been brewing but OP has been fine with whatever the scores have been. Good for OP for acting now but I suspect that there have been other signs.

At least at our school, I begged in IEP meetings for them to look at my child's low 400s reading scores on the SOL to try to figure out where he was going wrong. Primarily, I wanted to know whether it was a reading issue, a comprehension issue, or a test taking issue. It wasn't until he failed, that anyone at the school gave a damn. And they were able to raise his score 50 points in 3 days, so I doubt it was a true reading/comprehension issue. The issue isn't always the parents. Especially in this world of electronic learning, we don't always have the information we need to help our kids.

That's because low 400 scores are passing, it means your child is meeting the standards and there is nothing wrong.

400 is not a good score, even if it is passing. As we found out, one or two questions in the other direction and you fail. And had they intervened when I asked and given him the skills he was missing (which really were test taking skills) he would not have failed the SOL.

They don’t give test taking skill classes.

+1, FCPS had some lessons on test taking skills, but not all teachers use them (and that’s ok).