VA and SOL exemption

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever pursued an SOL exemption for high school based in your kid's diagnosis/ challenges with managing mental health and high stakes testing?

[Anonymous]

Is this even possible? I’m a HS teacher and local verified credit can be awarded if an attempt is made and a 375 is earned. I’ve never seen a requirement be completely waived. I don’t know if they can be for a standard diploma.

[Anonymous]

I just looked it up, OP, and it looks like you can try! I’ve never seen my school do this for students who school under 375 but it appears they have to try to take the test first. Others can probably give more information. I was just reading this info I found online.

https://peatc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Graduation-Requirements.pdf

[Anonymous]

If your child is going for the standard diploma, they have to attempt the SOL tests. You can ask for credit accommodations if your child has a history of failing SOL tests. The last resort would be special permission credit accommodations, but students need to take SOL's and unfortunately fail them first This is not an easy process and teachers need to have evidence that your child did grade level work. The process takes a while, and there is a lot of back and forth with the state.

[Anonymous]

As a high school teacher, the only cases where I have seen SOLs successfully waived is when students aren’t going for a standard/advanced diploma (Cat B).

[Anonymous]

I have a DS who is terrible at these tests and yes, he had to take them one after another until he passed. They only allow you to use locally awarded verified credit (LAVC) once, so I recommend saving it for an SOL that is the hardest for him. Also, if your student takes any advanced classes, IB or AP, he can use those scores as a substitute for SOLs.