Failed SOL's two years running

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d definitely ask the teacher to keep an eye on your child and note any concerns. At my school, they rarely tell us previous year SOL scores. Also, have teachers brought up attention concerns? I’ve had students who are good readers but don’t have the stamina to work independently for very short periods of time. The SOLs take sustained attention through several passages. Some students can do well on shorter assessments such as the DIBELS or individual passages but not on longer tests.

The school has failed your child for two years running. Don't be passive and allow it to happen again.

Or terrible parenting

SOLs are a reflection of what has been taught on school. Unless mom or dad is also your teacher, a students success on SOLs should not hang on what their parents know or taught them.

[Anonymous]

If it's possible for this test try to get a detailed score report. Our son got poor score on the test early on. As it turns out he got your perfect scores on the first half of the test but wasn't able to finish the test for various later-diagnosed disabilities. If we had understood that then we could have taken action much earlier.

[Anonymous]

Yeah tbh it's almost impossible to "fail" SOLs. This was one of the big problems with No Child Left Behind - it set standards that were universally ridiculously low. The only kids that don't pass either have disabilities, come from households that don't speak English, or are very impoverished. If the kid can't read a sentence, "Sally went to the store with money and a list that her mom gave her," and then correctly answer "What do you think Sally went to the store for: A. to buy things, B. to play at the playground, C. to clean the floor" then it's really nothing a teacher can remedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah tbh it's almost impossible to "fail" SOLs. This was one of the big problems with No Child Left Behind - it set standards that were universally ridiculously low. The only kids that don't pass either have disabilities, come from households that don't speak English, or are very impoverished. If the kid can't read a sentence, "Sally went to the store with money and a list that her mom gave her," and then correctly answer "What do you think Sally went to the store for: A. to buy things, B. to play at the playground, C. to clean the floor" then it's really nothing a teacher can remedy.

Your example is clearly not representative of a 4th grade level and the content of a 4th gade SOL.

Many AAP students failed the reading SOL last school year. The difference is in boils down to parents who are in the know and that heavily supplement vs parents who don't. Remember, your friends will likely not tell you their kid failed and will probably refuse retakes.

If you convince everyone that the public school systems are so awesome (instead of horribly broken), parents will be more likely to eat their child's failures and hire tutors rather than demanding accountability from schools. Schools know this and are quick to throw up their hands like "Oh it must be your child because our schools are so amazing". Nope. Don't fall for it. But don't expect them to be able to help either. Your kid is not the priority.

[Anonymous]

Not every family has $300 to $500 a month to spend on a tutor. Please live in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not every family has $300 to $500 a month to spend on a tutor. Please live in the real world.

Then the kid will fall behind. Money gets people ahead and it’s been like that for millennia. Those are “real world” facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would you approach new teacher this year and how would you frame concern around disconnect of two years of failing reading on SOL's and yet consistently high grades on report cards.

Is this just bad test taking at its extreme or is it easy grading that isn't reflecting a larger issue that needs to be addressed outside of SOL's? What kind of assessment (if any) should I be asking for?

Teacher and parent perspectives welcome!

Parent and former teacher. You need to get your kid a tutor. Sure talk to the school, but SOLs aren’t very hard. You should have gotten a tutor after the first failure.

The reading SOLs have been made much harder in recent years. Yes, OP should consider a tutor but she shouldn't have the wrong idea about the SOLs.

What? No. The SOLs were much easier in the Spring 2022 administration. My proof is the SDPQ (only school admin and teachers see this) or whatever it is called. Across the board, more low level questions than I ever recall seeing before. (A Teacher)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not every family has $300 to $500 a month to spend on a tutor. Please live in the real world.

Then homeschool. It's awesome! Or you could continue to let the system fail your child? Maybe pour all your energy into fighting for change in public schools which may never happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would you approach new teacher this year and how would you frame concern around disconnect of two years of failing reading on SOL's and yet consistently high grades on report cards.

Is this just bad test taking at its extreme or is it easy grading that isn't reflecting a larger issue that needs to be addressed outside of SOL's? What kind of assessment (if any) should I be asking for?

Teacher and parent perspectives welcome!

Parent and former teacher. You need to get your kid a tutor. Sure talk to the school, but SOLs aren’t very hard. You should have gotten a tutor after the first failure.

Translation: Yes, schools are inflating grades to hide the results of poor curriculum choices, poor teaching and to avoid being held accountable. No, your child is not in the minority as most kids would test poorly without outside tutoring and parental help. Yes, the emperor has no clothes; public schools in this area are only rated well because parents heavily supplement. No, you should not expect any meaningful help from the school staff. They are overwhelmed, ill-equipped, and textbook-less.

My advice to you is to homeschool before your child falls too far behind. Choose a classical curriculum that includes vocabulary lists, spelling, grammar, composition, and classical literature. Don't keep doing the same thing and going the same places hoping things will get better. Don't be afraid of change. Wishing you and your family all the best.

+1000

You're one of those people who shows up at school board meetings and screams at everyone aren't you? We get your point of view.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah tbh it's almost impossible to "fail" SOLs. This was one of the big problems with No Child Left Behind - it set standards that were universally ridiculously low. The only kids that don't pass either have disabilities, come from households that don't speak English, or are very impoverished. If the kid can't read a sentence, "Sally went to the store with money and a list that her mom gave her," and then correctly answer "What do you think Sally went to the store for: A. to buy things, B. to play at the playground, C. to clean the floor" then it's really nothing a teacher can remedy.

Your example is clearly not representative of a 4th grade level and the content of a 4th gade SOL.

Many AAP students failed the reading SOL last school year. The difference is in boils down to parents who are in the know and that heavily supplement vs parents who don't. Remember, your friends will likely not tell you their kid failed and will probably refuse retakes.

If you convince everyone that the public school systems are so awesome (instead of horribly broken), parents will be more likely to eat their child's failures and hire tutors rather than demanding accountability from schools. Schools know this and are quick to throw up their hands like "Oh it must be your child because our schools are so amazing". Nope. Don't fall for it. But don't expect them to be able to help either. Your kid is not the priority.

Huge numbers of kids aren't failing the sols. Your exaggeration is dishonest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah tbh it's almost impossible to "fail" SOLs. This was one of the big problems with No Child Left Behind - it set standards that were universally ridiculously low. The only kids that don't pass either have disabilities, come from households that don't speak English, or are very impoverished. If the kid can't read a sentence, "Sally went to the store with money and a list that her mom gave her," and then correctly answer "What do you think Sally went to the store for: A. to buy things, B. to play at the playground, C. to clean the floor" then it's really nothing a teacher can remedy.

Your example is clearly not representative of a 4th grade level and the content of a 4th gade SOL.

Many AAP students failed the reading SOL last school year. The difference is in boils down to parents who are in the know and that heavily supplement vs parents who don't. Remember, your friends will likely not tell you their kid failed and will probably refuse retakes.

If you convince everyone that the public school systems are so awesome (instead of horribly broken), parents will be more likely to eat their child's failures and hire tutors rather than demanding accountability from schools. Schools know this and are quick to throw up their hands like "Oh it must be your child because our schools are so amazing". Nope. Don't fall for it. But don't expect them to be able to help either. Your kid is not the priority.

How many? This is data you can find and your are making things up.

[Anonymous]

Maybe a tutor now who can help your child learn how to deal with tests would help. Some kids really don't get it and don't manage their time well, get distracted too easily, give up too easily, over analyze the possible answers, etc.

Maybe an hour or two a week after school of practicing taking SOL type reading tests will help a lot, possibly you could do it yourself without a tutor. Ask the teacher for recommended materials.

My experience working in elementary school is that there are always some kids like this despite being intellectually capable of passing. Also, typically schools will focus hard on the kids who aren't passing repeatedly so I would expect that type of extra help this year during school, possibly as pull out support.

[Anonymous]

Maybe your child does know their material it’s just that the formality of the test may cause an anxiety that interferes with memory recall and/or retrieval.

There is also a pressure leading up to testing that may cause an anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah tbh it's almost impossible to "fail" SOLs. This was one of the big problems with No Child Left Behind - it set standards that were universally ridiculously low. The only kids that don't pass either have disabilities, come from households that don't speak English, or are very impoverished. If the kid can't read a sentence, "Sally went to the store with money and a list that her mom gave her," and then correctly answer "What do you think Sally went to the store for: A. to buy things, B. to play at the playground, C. to clean the floor" then it's really nothing a teacher can remedy.

Your example is clearly not representative of a 4th grade level and the content of a 4th gade SOL.

Many AAP students failed the reading SOL last school year. The difference is in boils down to parents who are in the know and that heavily supplement vs parents who don't. Remember, your friends will likely not tell you their kid failed and will probably refuse retakes.

If you convince everyone that the public school systems are so awesome (instead of horribly broken), parents will be more likely to eat their child's failures and hire tutors rather than demanding accountability from schools. Schools know this and are quick to throw up their hands like "Oh it must be your child because our schools are so amazing". Nope. Don't fall for it. But don't expect them to be able to help either. Your kid is not the priority.

I didn't say the school systems are amazing. 25% of students statewide fail the reading SOL. Most of these students are in poverty and/or hispanic in our area (unfortunately there is a high correlation). You can go on Greatschools and see the pass rates for exams for different races and poverty/no poverty (you kind of have to infer the rates for poverty based on the ratings and pass rates for the races). At my school 42% of the hispanic students fail their reading SOL. A lot of this is language barrier and not speaking English at home. The school already has remedial ESOL but I'm not sure what we're supposed to do short of opening a spanish language school

[Anonymous]

The reading SOLs have been made much harder in recent years. Yes, OP should consider a tutor but she shouldn't have the wrong idea about the SOLs.



What? No. The SOLs were much easier in the Spring 2022 administration. My proof is the SDPQ (only school admin and teachers see this) or whatever it is called. Across the board, more low level questions than I ever recall seeing before. (A Teacher)

You are not a teacher. Teachers aren't allowed to look at the SOL questions, do not see the test in advance, and don't see it after the test.