Integrated writing and reading - SOL

[Anonymous]

Hello All,
This year 5th grade has Integrated reading and writing SOL, I'm not sure whether it was there previously .Please share your thoughts /recommendations to prepare for it. Any material or website recommendation would be of great help. TIA.

[Anonymous]

It’s new other than a pilot last year. The teachers didn’t even get any kind of rubric or samples until a few weeks ago. They won’t tell us how much they want to kids to write, or what kinds of prompts to expect (narrative/expository/persuasive). There’s also no passing score this year, and it doesn’t affect the overall reading SOL score.

It’s all very vague and frustrating, and there are no firm guidelines to prepare. Have an introduction and conclusion, use transitions, use a few metaphors and/or similes if possible because those us usually bump you up a level on tests like this. Other than that, it’s mostly a throwaway this year.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your inputs. Its really frustrating ,its already a collapsed system ,without any books .My DD used to bring home worksheets from school till last year. This year its been really very hard to track the work done at school. I don't understand why the system is not transparent, why it has to be an undercover operation.

[Anonymous]

My kid is going to be absent on that day. I refuse for them to be a Guinea pig.

[Anonymous]

I think this should be a great wake up call to FCPS about how poor their writing instruction is both in general education and AAP. Neither of my children (one in each) could write an essay, they are both horrific spellers, it's a travesty.

[Anonymous]

My kids are younger and we have no experience with SOLs yet. How are the scores used by the county or school? Are kids kept back if they don't pass or any other consequences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is going to be absent on that day. I refuse for them to be a Guinea pig.

Why on earth would you do that? This only hurts your DC by taking away an opportunity to practice taking a writing test. However they score, whether good or bad, won't impact them in any way. They will only get the experience. Or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are younger and we have no experience with SOLs yet. How are the scores used by the county or school? Are kids kept back if they don't pass or any other consequences?

In elementary school, SOLs don't mean anything. If you are in Advanced Math but not AAP, then the math SOL may be important for admission and to stay in Advanced Math each year. Other than that, the SOLs don't affect the student in any way.

[Anonymous]

The writing prompt for the Grade 5 Integrated Reading and Writing Component is based off Virginia Standard of Learning 5.7: "The student will write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive." The same verbatim language appears on the Standards of Learning main document, the Curriculum Framework, and the Test Blueprint available on the VDOE website. It makes sense that VDOE is not sharing with school districts what the specific form of writing will be on the IRW because the state standard is written that students in 5th grade should have experience writing all four forms listed in Standard 5.7.

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/k-12-standards-instruction/english-reading-literacy/standards-of-learning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The writing prompt for the Grade 5 Integrated Reading and Writing Component is based off Virginia Standard of Learning 5.7: "The student will write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive." The same verbatim language appears on the Standards of Learning main document, the Curriculum Framework, and the Test Blueprint available on the VDOE website. It makes sense that VDOE is not sharing with school districts what the specific form of writing will be on the IRW because the state standard is written that students in 5th grade should have experience writing all four forms listed in Standard 5.7.

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/k-12-standards-instruction/english-reading-literacy/standards-of-learning

The FCPS curriculum guide accessible to families gives a basic schedule of when instruction was/will be provided on the different forms of writing.

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/elementary-school-grades-k-6/fifth-grade/year-glance/writing

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Our school already took the IRW. My kid said it was easy after all the writing they've done this year.